Geo  I.  Lib. 


* 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


.Tlie  RALPH  D.  nEE»  IIBRART 

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CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Coinmittees,  ...........  2 

The  District  of  Columbia : — 

The  Cit}'  of  Washington,  ----...--3 

The  Zoological  Park,  ...-  ...-  5 

The  Capitol,  -.-.....-.--  5 

The  White  House,      ----------  6 

The  Washington  Monument,      .----..--7 
The  Corcoran  Art  Gallery,    ---------  8 

Departments  and  Scientific  Institutions:  — 

Building  of  the  State,  War  and  Navy  Departments,  -----  9 

State  Department,      ----------  9 

War  Department,  ------  -.-9 

Army  Medical  Museum  and  Library,  ------  10 

Navy  Department,  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -11 

Naval  Observatory,    -  -.--.--.  n 

Nautical  Almanac,  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -11 

U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office,         -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  12 

U.  S.  Navy  Yard,     ----------  13 

U.  S.  Marine  Barracks,  --------  13 

Treasury  Department,     .---------13 

United  States  Mint,  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  14 

United   States   Coast   and   Geodetic   Survey,  and   Office   of  Standard  Weights  and 

Measures,  ------.---14 

Bureau  of  Engraving  and  Printing,      -------  15 

Department  of  the  Interior,         --.------15 

United  States  Geological  Survey,  -------  15 

United  States  Patent  Office,  --------  17 

United  States  Bureau  of  Education,      -------  17 

United  States  Census,  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  18 

Pension  Bureau,  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  18 

Department  of  Agriculture,        ---------18 

The  Weather  Bureau,     ---------  20 

Post-Office  Department,  .------.-20 

Department  of  Justice.  -------  -  20 

The  Smithsonian  Institution,     -  .----.--  20 

The  National  Museum,  --------  22 

Bureau  of  Ethnology,  .--------24 

U.  S.  Commission  of  Fish  and  Fisheries,  ------  25 

Educational  Institutions,  ...--.-  -26 

Government  Printing  Office,  --------  27 


I^ibraries  of  Washington  ;— 

Library  of  Congress,         ...-------27 

House  of  Representatives,     ---------  27 

Senate,       ------------         27 

Executive  Mansion,  ---------  27 

State  Department,  ----------  27 

Treasury  Department,  --.------  27 

War  Department,  ----------  27 

Navy  Department,      -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -28 

Post-Office  Department,  .--------29 

Interior  Department,  ---------  29 

Department  of  Justice,  .--------         30 

Department  of  Agriculture,  --------  30 

Society  Libraries,  ----------30 

School  Libraries,        ----------  30 

Washington  Libraries,     ----------         3^ 

Private  Libraries,        ----------  32 

Gen  era  1  In  form  a  Hon  :  — 

Scientific  Societies  of  Washington,        --------33 

Foreign  Legations,  Offices  of  -  -  -----  34 

Clubs,        ------------         34 

Hotel  Accommodations,         ---------  35 

Drives  Around  Washington,        ---------35 

Excursions  in  the  Neighborhood  of  Washington,  -----  36 

Excursions  after  the  Congress,  --------         2>^ 

Street  Car  Lines,         ----------  37 

Hacks,  Cabs  and  Other  Vehicles,  Rates  for     -  -  -  -  -  -  -         37 

The  Geology  of  Washington  and  Vicinity,      -  -  -  -  .  -  38 

Maps : — 

Central  Portion  of  City,  -------         Facing  Title  Page 

Geological  Map,       --------  Facing  Last  Page 


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Scientific 
Institutions 


NTERNATIONAL   CONGRESS   OF   GEOLOGISTS. 

FIFTH  SESSION,  WASHINGTON. 

1891 


OPENING   SESSION,  WEDNESDAY,   AUGUST  20,  2  P.  M. 
COLUMBIAN    UNIVERSITY. 


Prepared  by  tlic  Local  Coniniittee  for  the  use  of  tlie  Congress. 


LOCAL   COMMITTEE. 

Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,   Chairman. 

Chari.es  D.  Walcott,  Secretary. 
Marcus  Baker,  vS.  F.  Emmons,  Prof.  S.  P.  Langley, 

Dr.  G.  F.  Becker,  G.  K.  Gilbert,  W.  J.  McGee, 

Whitman  Cross,  G.  Brown  Goode,  Dr.  T.  C.   Mendenhall, 

Dr.  W.  H.  Dall,  Arnold  Hague,  Maj.  J.  W.  Powell, 

Dr.  David  T.  Day,  Jos.  P.  Iddings,  Hon.  Edwin  Willetts, 

Maj.  C.  E.   Dutton,  U.  S.  A.  -  Bailey  Willis. 


EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE. 

Gardiner  G.   Hubbard,    Chairman. 
Dr.  W.  H.  Dall,  G.  K.  Gilbert,  Maj.  J.  W.  Powell, 

S.  F.  Emmons,  Arnold  Hague,  Charles  D.  Walcott. 


COMMITTEE    ON    HALLS   AND    PLACE    OF   MEETING. 

Dr.   W.   H.   Dall,   Chairman. 
G.  Brown  Goode,  ^^^  J.  McGee. 


COMMITTEE   ON    PRINTING. 

Maj.  J.  W.   Powell,   Chairman. 
Dr.  T.  C.  Mendenhall.  Hon.  Edwin  Willetts. 


COMMITTEE    ON   SHORT    EXCURSIONS. 

G.   K.   Gilbert,   Chairman. 
Maj.  C.  E.  Dutton,  U.  S.  A.  Bailey  Willis. 


COMMITTEE    ON    FINANCE. 

Gardiner  G.   Hubbard,   Chairman. 
Marcus  Baker,  Jos.  P.  Iddings. 


COMMITTEE   ON  ENTERTAINMENT. 

Arnold  Hague,   Chairman. 
Whitman  Cross,  Jos.  P.  Iddings, 

Dr.  David  T.  Day,  Bailey  Willis. 


Creology 

library 

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111 

tio\y 


%hz  T)istoel'  of  Columbia. 

The  District  of  Columbia  is  the  permanent  seat  of  government  of  the  United 
States,  and  Washington  is  the  capital  city  within  its  bounds.  Its  exact  site  was  chosen 
by  President  Washington  in  accordance  with  a  resolution  passed  by  Congress 
July  ID,  1790,  which  specified  that  the  location  should  be  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac  river  between  certain  limits.  This  choice  was  reached  after  a  heated  sectional 
contest,  and  conformed  to  the  declaration  that  "the  site  of  the  future  capital  should  be 
as  near  as  possible  the  centre  of  wealth,  of  population,  and  of  territory." 

The  District  was  originally  ten  miles  square  ;  its  centre  was  very  near  the  spot 
occupied  by  the  Washington  Monument,  and  jurisdiction  was  ceded  to  the  general 
government  by  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  boundaries  of  the  District 
as  originally  defined  are  shown  upon  the  accompanying  geological  map.  When  the 
site  was  chosen  Georgetown  had  been  a  thriving  trading  point,  with  extensive  foreign 
commerce,  for  nearly  a  hundred  years,  and  Alexandria  was  also  a  prominent  settlement, 
but  the  ground  occupied  by  the  present  City  of  Washington  was  for  the  most  part 
unimproved. 

%hz  (Sil'^  of  tCLazhingl'on. 

The  ground  plan  of  the  capital  is  the  work  of  Major  L'Enfant,  a  young  French 
engineer  residing  in  Philadelphia,  chosen  by  Washington  for  this  purpose.  The  plan 
was  made  after  a  careful  study  of  the  physiography  of  the  District,  and  shows  a  wonder- 
ful appreciation  of  the  requirements  of  the  capital  of  a  great  nation. 

The  Capitol  is  the  centre  of  this  plan.  The  north  and  south  and  east  and  west 
lines  passing  through  that  building  divide  the  city  into  four  quarters.  Either  side  from 
the  meridian  line  the  streets  are  numbered  :  First  street.  Second  street,  etc.  Each 
way  from  the  east-west  line  the  streets  are  named  in  order  from  the  alphabet  :  A  street. 
B  street,  etc.  Besides  the  letteied  and  numbered  streets  there  are  many  avenues, 
named  after  states  of  the  Union.  These  avenues  run  in  directions  diagonal  to  the 
streets  and  are  so  arranged  that  several  of  them  intersect  at  certain  important  points — 
as  at  the  White  House  and  at  the  Capitol. 


8931.02 


The  streets  and  avenues  of  the  city  are  so  wide  (80  to  160  feet)  that  in  most 
cases  only  the  central  part  is  ii'sed  for  pavement  and  sidewalks,  leaving  a  strip  on  either 
side  which  holders  of  adjoining  property  are  allowed  to  improve  with  flowers,  shrubs 
and  trees,  but  may  not  encroach  upon  with  buildings. 

The  largest  park  within  the  city  limits  is  that  known  as  the  Mall,  which  lies 
between  the  Capitol  and  the  Washington  Monument.  In  various  divisions  of  this  park 
are  situated  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  the  National  Museum,  and  other  scientific 
bureaus  and  museums.  (See  map).  Between  the  White  House  grounds  and  the 
Monument  is  the  President's  Park,  commonly  known  as  the  "  White  Lot." 

Within  a  few  years  the  park  area  of  the  city  will  be  more  than  doubled  by  the 
improvement  of  the  grounds  now  being  reclaimed,  by  dredging  and  filling,  from  the 
malarial  flats  of  the  river.  This  land  adjoins  the  Mall  on  the  west  and  extends  south- 
ward to  a  point  opposite  the  Arsenal  grounds. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  features  of  the  city  is  the  great  number  of  small  parks, 
most  of  them  situated  at  points  of  intersection  of  several  avenues,  while  in  other  cases 
one  or  more  squares  are  thus  occupied.  Perhaps  the  most  beautiful  of  these  small 
parks  is  Lafayette  Square,  situated  in  front  of  the  White  House,  between  Pennsyl- 
vania avenue  and  H  street,  and  surrounded  by  houses  with  which  many  events  of 
historic  interest  are  connected.  It  contains  a  great  variety  of  beautiful  trees,  many  of 
them  exotics.  In  the  centre  of  this  park  is  an  equestrian  statue  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
seventh  President  of  the  United  States.  At  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  park  is  the 
monument  recently  erected  to  the  memory  of  Lafayette  and  his  compatriots.  Count  de 
Rochambeau  and  Chevalier  Duportail,  of  the  French  army,  and  Counts  D'Estaing  and 
De  Grasse,  of  the  French  navy,  who  served  as  allies  in  the  closing  years  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  The  statue,  which  was  ordered  by  Congress  at  a  cost  of  ^50,000,  was 
designed  by  the  French  artists,  Falquiere  and  Mercie. 

On  Vermont  avenue  are  three  pretty  parks.  McPherson  Square,  situated 
bet'^een  I  and  K  streets,  contains  an  equestrian  statue  to  General  J.  B,  McPherson, 
erected  by  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  Two  blocks  further  up  Vermont 
avenue,  at  the  intersection  of  Massachusetts  avenue,  is  Thomas  Circle,  in  the  centre  of 
which  is  a  statue  of  General  George  H.  Thomas,  erected  by  the  Society  of  the  Army 
of  the  Cumberland.     Two  blocks  still  further  out  Vermont  avenue  is  Iowa  Circle. 

On  Connecticut  avenue,  which  leads  off"  in  a  northwesterly  direction  from 
Lafayette  Square,  is  Farragut  Square,  between  I  and  K  streets.  In  this  is  a  statue  of 
Admiral  David  G.  Farragut.  Four  blocks  up  the  avenue  is  Dupont  Circle,  in  the 
centre  of  which  is  a  statue  to  Rear  Admiral  Samuel  F.  Dupont. 

In  Scott  Circle,  at  the  intersection  of  Sixteenth  street  and  Massachusetts 
avenue,  stands  an  equestrian  statue  of  General  Winfield  Scott. 

On  East  Capitol  street,  in  the  eastern  section  of  the  city,  is  the  fine  Lincoln 
Park,  with  a  statue  representing  the  emancipation  of  the  slave. 


Besides  the  parks  above  mentioned  the  visitor  will  find  many  others,  at  short 
intervals,  on  nearly  all  the  principal  avenues  of  the  cit)'.  The  grounds  about  the 
Naval  Observator}^  the  Arsenal,  and  at  the  Congressional  Cemetery  are  also  improved 
as  parks. 

The  Botanical  Gardens  are  situated  on  Pennsylvania  avenue,  between  First  and 
Third  streets.  They  cover  ten  acres  of  ground,  and  are  beautifully  laid  out  with  trees, 
shrubs  and  flowers.  They  may  be  considered  as  forming  a  part  of  the  Mall,  although 
enclosed  b)'  an  iron  railing.  Admission  may  be  had  between  9  a.  m.  and  6  p.  m. 
every  day  except  Sunday.     The  grounds  and  greenhouses  are  well  worth  a  visit. 


%h^   Zoological   IPark. 

Thk  grounds  of  the  new  Zoological  Park  in  the  near  suburl)s  of  the  city  lie  on 
both  sides  of  Rock  Creek,  just  north  of  Woodley  lane.  They  comprise  166  acres. 
The  land  was  purchased  by  Act  of  Congress  in  1889  at  a  cost  of  nearly  $200,000. 
Already  the  park  is  enclosed,  and  several  structures  suitable  for  the  use  of  the  animals 
have  been  erected.  A  considerable  number  of  North  American  animals  have  been 
placed  in  their  new  home,  and  an  excellent  nucleus  started  for  a  national  zoological 
garden.  A  number  of  the  larger  Rocky  Mountain  animals  have  been  captured  in  the 
Yellowstone  National  Park,  and  will  be  transferred  to  Washington  for  the  Zoological 
Park  earl}^  in  the  autumn. 

The  park  is  most  picturesquely  located  and  admirably  adapted  for  its  purpose. 
It  is  under  the  direction  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 


^  %hc    (Sapil^ol. 

The  Capitol  as  it  now  stands  is  the  result  of  several  additions  to  and  changes  of 
the  original  building.  The  central  part,  exclusive  of  the  dome,  represents  the  original 
design  by  Mr.  vStephen  Hallet.  The  two  wings  of  this  part,  erected  in  1793-1S11, 
were  destroyed  by  the  British  in  18 14,  but  were  soon  rebuilt  with  the  connecting 
portion  and  a  wooden  dome.  The  extensions  on  the  north  and  south,  containing  the 
present  legislative  chambers,  were  added  1851-1867,  after  the  plans  of  Mr.  Thomas  U. 
Walter,  and  the  great  iron  dome,  by  the  same  architect,  was  completed  in  1863. 

The  length  of  the  building  is  751  feet,  its  greatest  width  320  feet,  and  the  dome 
rises  307  feet  above  the  foundation. 

In  the  different  facades  of  the  Capitol  are  134  beautiful  Corinthian  columns, 
100  of  them  monolithic.  The  material  of  the  new  wings  is  white  marble,  that  of  the 
older  part  sandstone. 

5 


At  the  eastern  front  of  the  bnilding,  flanked  by  a  donble  row  of  columns,  is  a 
portico  1 60  feet  long,  upon  which  most  of  the  Presidents  have  been  inaugurated. 

The  Capitol  contains  the  legislative  chambers  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  Room  and  Congressional 
Library. 

The  rotunda  of  the  Capitol  is  96  feet  in  diameter  at  its  base,  and  185  feet  high, 
to  a  canopy  65  feet  in  diameter.  In  the  rotunda  are  eight  large  paintings  by  American 
artists,  four  of  them  commemorating  events  in  the  discovery  and  settlement  of  the 
country,  and  four  representing  scenes  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  The  frieze,  10  feet 
in  height,  is  likewise  historical  in  character.  In  the  canopy  is  an  allegorical  fresco, 
the  apotheosis  of  Washington,  by  Brumidi,  who  also  began  the  frieze. 

From  the  rotunda  one  can  ascend  to  the  dome  and  to  the  cupola  above,  from 
which  a  beautiful  view  of  the  city  may  be  obtained.  The  dome  is  crowned  by  a  bronze 
statue  of  the  Goddess  of  Freedom,  by  Crawford,  an  American  sculptor.  The  dome  is 
135  feet  5  inches  in  diameter  at  its  base. 

At  the  entrance  to  the  rotunda  from  the  eastern  portico  is  a  bronze  door  repre- 
senting in  its  relief  figures  the  history  of  Columbus  and  his  discoveries.  There  are 
also  heads  of  many  sovereigns  and  discoverers  wdiose  names  are  associated  with  the 
discovery  of  America,  and  of  historians  who  have  written  upon  the  subject.  The  door 
was  designed  by  Randolph  Rogers,  in  1858.  Another  fine  bronze  door  is  at  the  eastern 
entrance  to  the  Senate  wing.  This  was  designed  by  Crawford,  and  was  cast  at 
Chicopee,  Massachusetts. 

The  assembly  halls  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the 
rooms  connected  with  them,  are  ornamented  with  many  frescoes,  paintings,  and 
artistic  decorations.  Attention  is  especially  called  to  two  large  paintings  by  Thomas 
Moran,  situated  in  the  vestibule  to  the  ladies'  gallery  of  the  Senate  chamber.  One  of 
these  represents  the  "Grand  Canon  of  the  Yellowstone,"  and  the  other  the  "  Gxand 
Cailon  of  the  Colorado."  Both  are  well  worthy  of  study.  Among  the  miscella- 
neous paintings  which  adorn  the  halls  and  galleries  are  "  Westward  Ho,"  by  Leutze, 
and  the   "  Signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence." 

Between  the  rotunda  and  the  House  wing  of  the  building  is  the  National  Hall 
of  Statuary.  To  this  collection  each  State  of  the  Union  has  been  invited  to  contribute 
two  statues  of  prominent  citizens.       Many  of  them  have  already  done  so. 


%hz  'SIhil'e  Mouse. 

The  Executive  Mansion,  or  White  House,  is  situated  in  a  park  between  the 
Treasury  and  the  State,  War  and  Nav}'  buildings.  It  was  erected  in  1 792-1 799,  after 
the  designs  of  Mr.  James  Hobau,  and  is  said  to  be  similar  to  the  palace  of  the  Duke  of 


Leinster,  in  Dublin.     Its  popular  name  is  said  to  have  its  origin  in  the  fact  that  for  a 
long  time  after  its  completion  it  was  the  only  white  building  in  the  city. 

The  largest  of  the  reception  rooms  is  open  to  visitors  from  lo  a.  m  to  3  p.  m. 
Concerts  by  the  Marine  Band  are  given  at  6  o'clock  every  Saturday  afternoon  during 
the  summer  in  the  grounds  south  of  the  White  House. 


%hz  'Slashington  TDonumenl?. 

The  Washington  Monument  stands  on  the  bank  of  the  Potomac  river  south  of 
the  White  House,  ver}-  near  the  spot  designated  by  Major  L'Enfant  in  the  original 
plan  of  the  city  for  an  equestrian  statue  to  the  memory  of  Washington.  It  is  also  very 
near  the  centre  of  the  original  District  of  Columbia. 

The  designer  of  the  Monument  was  Robert  Mills,  of  South  Carolina.  Its  erec- 
tion was  begun  in  1847,  but  was  interrupted  in  1S55,  when  it  had  reached  a  height  of 
152  feet,  through  failure  of  funds,  which  had  thus  far  been  contributed  by  private  in- 
dividuals. Work  was  resumed  in  1S78  under  appropriations  made  by  Congress.  The 
capstone  was  put  in  place  December  6,  1884,  and  the  dedication  took  place  on  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1885,  with  imposing  Masonic  ceremonies.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, was  the  orator  both  at  the  laying  of  the  cornerstone  and  at  the  dedication. 
The  total  cost  of  the  Monument  has  been  $1,200,000,  of  which  $300,000  was  raised  by 
contributions  from  the  people. 

The  shaft  is  of  Vermont  marble.  Its  original  foundation  was  80  feet  square  at 
the  base,  55  feet  square  at  the  top  and  25  feet  high,  17  feet  above  the  surface. 
When  work  was  resumed  in  1878  it  was  found  advisable  to  enlarge  the  foundation,  and 
a  mass  of  concrete  12632  feet  square  and  13)2  feet  in  thickness  was  placed  under  the 
original  foundation,  a  noteworthy'  feat  of  engineering.  The  engineer  in  charge  of  the 
work  from  1878  to  the  completion  of  the  Monument  was  Col.  (now  Gen.)  Thomas  L,. 
Casey. 

The  Monument  is  555  feet  in  height,  55  feet  square  at  the  base,  and  31^^  feet 
square  at  the  base  of  the  summit  pyramid,  which  is  55  feet  high.  The  apex  of  the 
pyramid  is  a  solid  block  of  aluminum  9  inches  high,  4^  inches  square  at  the  base  and 
weighing  6}{  pounds.  The  total  weight  of  the  Monument  is  80,000  tons.  At  the 
time  of  its  completion  this  shaft  was  the  highest  building  in  the  world.  It  is  now 
(1891)  surpassed  only  b}^  the  Eiffel  Tower  in  Paris. 

By  means  of  an  elevator  one  can  ascend  to  a  landing  at  the  base  of  the  summit 
pyramid,  and  through  port  holes  obtain  magnificent  views  of  the  city  and  surrounding 
countr)\  B}^  walking  down  the  iron  staircase  one  can  see  the  numerous  memorial 
tablets  set  in  the  walls,  contributed  by  various  nations,  states,  cities,  societies,  cor- 
porations and  individuals. 

7 


The  elevator  ascends  at  the  even  hour  and   half  hour.     The  Monument  is  open 
every  week  day  from  g  a.  m.  to  5.30  p.  m. 


%hz  (Sopeopan  "Rv^  Gallery- 

Situated  on  Pennsylvania  avenue,  corner  of  Seventeenth  street,  opposite  the 
State,  War  and  Nav^y  Departments.  This  Gallery  was  founded  and  endowed  by  W.  W. 
Corcoran,  a  citizen  of  Washington.  The  present  building  was  erected  in  1859.  The 
two  bronze  lions  at  the  main  entrance  are  copies  of  Cantora's  at  the  tomb  of  Pope 
Clement  XIII.  It  has  one  of  the  best  collections  of  paintings  in  this  country,  and  is 
constantly  being  enriched  by  purchase.  Connected  with  the  Gallery  is  a  school  of  art. 
Unfortunately  the  Gallery  is  closed  for  repairs  during  August. 


"^he  Departtr^ents  and  2eienl^ifie  Instil^utions. 


ISuilding  of  the  5j?atc,  IHap  ai^d  Tlciv^  'Deparl'menl's. 

This  massive  structure  stands  on  the  south  side  of  Pennsjdvania  avenue  just 
west  of  the  White  House.  It  is  built  in  Italian  Renaissance  style,  and  was  begun  in 
187 1  and  completed  in  1887,  from  designs  by  Mr.  A.  B.  Mullett,  late  supervising  arch- 
itect of  the  Treasury.  The  stone  is  granite,  from  Maine  and  Virginia.  The  State  De- 
partment occupies  the  southern  portion  of  the  building  ;  the  War  Department  the 
northern  and  western,  and  the  Navy  Department  the  eastern  wing.  Many  of  the  rooms 
are  richly  frescoed  and  decorated,  and  contain  numerous  portraits,  historical  relics  and 
other  objects  of  interest. 

Ztcnie   T)epapJmenl'. 

Honorable  James  G.  Blaine,  vSecretary  of  State. 

The  Department  is  open  from  9  a.  m.  to  2  p.  m.  On  the  third  floor  is  an  excel- 
lent library  for  the  purposes  of  the  Department.  The  original  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence is  exhibited  in  the  library  with  other  historical  documents,  many  of  them 
relating  to  the  early  days  of  the  country. 


'Slar  'Dcpartmenl'. 

Honorable  Redfield  Proctor,  Secretary  of  War. 

Many  of  the  rooms  and  corridors  are  adorned  with  portraits  of  distingui.shed 
generals,  most  of  which  may  be  seen  by  applying  to  the  messenger  at  the  Secretary's 
door. 

Headquarters  of  the  Army.  Major-General  John  M.  Schofield,  Commanding. 
The  office  is  located  in  the  north  wing  at  the  east  end  of  the  corridor. 

Corps  of  Engi)iecrs.  Brigadier-General  Thomas  L,.  Casey,  Chief  of  lingineers. 
The  Corps  of  Engineers  are  charged  with  all  duties  relating  to  fortifications;  with  tor- 
pedoes for  coast  defenses  ;  with  all  militar}'  bridges  ;  and  such  services  as  may  be  re- 
quired for  these  objects.     It  is  also  charged  with  the  harbor  and  river  improvements. 


Ordnance  Bureau.  Brigadier-General  D.  W.  Flagler,  Chief  of  Ordnance.  The 
Burean  of  Ordnance  has  charge  of  all  the  national  armories,  gun  factories,  arsenals  and 
ordnance  depots,  and  is  expending  large  sum§  of  money  in  the  manufacture  of 
modern  guns. 


%hz  TiVrnTi  IBedieal  IBuzeum  ai^d.  laibpap^- 

The  Army  Medical  Museum  occupies  a  portion  of  the  new  building  erected  at 
the  northwest  corner  of  Seventh  and  B  streets  southwest,  east  of  the  National  Museum. 
The  rest  of  the  building  is  occupied  by  the  Library  of  the  Surgeon-General's  Office,  a 
portion  of  the  Record  and  Pension  Division  of  the  War  Department,  and  the  Laboratory. 
The  Museum  was  removed  in  1887  from  the  building  formerly  known  as  Ford's 
Theater  (Nos.  509  and  511  Tenth  street  northwest.) 

The  Museum  was  founded  and  a  large  portion  of  the  medical  and  surgical  speci- 
mens collected  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  Since  the  close  of  the  war,  however, 
the  officers  in  charge  have  continued  to  collect  specimens  from  the  medical  officers  of 
the  army  at  the  several  military  posts,  and  a  number  of  valuable  specimens  have  been 
contributed  by  physicians  engaged  in  private  practice. 

At  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  terminating  June  30,  1891,  the  Museum  contained 
about  10,135  pathological  specimens,  3,314  anatomical  specimens,  11,500  microscopical 
specimens,  and  1,717  specimens  of  comparative  anatomy.  It  was  visited  last  year  by 
more  than  42,000  persons. 

This  collection  is  richer  in  specimens  illustrative  of  the  results  of  gun-shot 
wounds,  and  of  the  surgical  operations  which  they  necessitate  than  any  other  collection 
in  the  world.  In  other  departments,  thcugh  it  does  not  equal  some  of  the  wealthy  and 
long  established  museums  of  Europe,  its  collections  are,  nevertheless,  by  far  the  most 
important  in  America,  and  are  annually  increasing  in  extent  and  value. 

The  Library  of  the  Surgeon-General's  Office,  which  occupies  a  portion  of  the 
same  building,  is  the  largest  and  most  valuable  medical  library  in  the  world.  At  the 
close  of  the  fiscal  year  terminating  June  30,  1891,  it  contained  about  100,000  books  and 
150,000  pamphlets,  and  the  number  is  steadily  increasing.  Medical  men  from  any  part 
of  the  country  desirous  of  consulting  the  works  in  this  library  are  courteously  welcomed 
and  granted  free  access. 

Both  the  Museum  and  Library  are  open  to  visitors  daily,  except  Sundays,  from 
9  a.  m.  to  4  p.  m.  The  Seventh-street  Cable  Road,  which  connects  with  the  principal 
.street  railroads,  carries  visitors  direct  to  the  Museum. 


T}aT?2  'Deparlrnenl'. 

Honorable  Rkxjamin  I".  Tracv,  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

The  Chiefs  of  the  Bureaus  of  the  Navy  Department  are  officers  of  the  United 
vStates  Navy  and  part  of  the  Naval  estabhshment.  Upon  the  walls  of  the  Secretary's 
office  are  hung  some  excellent  portraits  of  former  secretaries  ;  in  the  corridors  are  to  be 
seen  some  fine  models  of  the  new  cruisers.     The  L,ibrary  is  on  the  fourth  floor. 


T}a-oal  ©bsep^pal^op^- 

Captain  vS.  V.   McNair,  U.  S.  N.,  Snperintcndent. 

The  Observatory  is  situated  on  the  corner  of  Twenty-fourth  and  D  streets  North- 
west. It  was  established  in  1S42,  its  object  being  to  promote  the  ends  of  navigation. 
The  Observatory  is  equipped  with  a  26-inch  equatorial  mural  circle  and  transit  and 
a  prime  transit  for  declinations,  and  many  other  notable  instruments.  Astronomical 
observations  are  made  in  order  to  establish  and  correct  the  data  used  by  the  navigator, 
and  all  the  instruments  connected  with  navigation  are  tested  in  this  office.  Connected 
with  the  Observatory  is  a  corps  of  astronoiners  of  national  reputation.  The  results 
of  the  investigations  are  published  annually  under  the  title  of  "Washington  Observa- 
tions." The  Observatory  is  open  to  the  public  on  all  work-days  from  9  a.  m.  to  4  p.  ni. 
A  new  observatory  is  being  built  one  mile  north  of  Georgetown,  but  it  is  not  yet 
ready  for  occupancy.  It  has  an  excellent  position,  admirably  chosen  for  its  purposes. 
The  grounds  surrounding  the  building  embraces  about  60  acres. 


IQautieal  T^lmanae. 

Prof.   Simon  Newcomb,   U.  S.  N.,   Snpcrintendent. 

The  Nautical  Almanac  Office  is  situated  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Pennsylvania 
avenue  and  Nineteenth  street  ;  entrance,  No.  810  Nineteenth  street.  A  regular  staff 
of  ten  assistants  is  employed  in  this  office. 

f  The  American  Ephemeris  and  Nautical  Almanac. 

The  American  Nautical  Almanac. 
Annual  Publications :  \   ^.       ,   ,       .     ^       ^        tvt     i.-     1   ai 

The  Atlantic  Coasters  Nautical  Almanac. 

I   The  Pacific  Coasters  Nautical  Almanac. 

Publications  issued  at  j  Astronomical  Papers  of  The  American  Ephemeris. 
irregular  intervals  .■     ( 

II 


11.  Z.  H^dpograpbie   ©ffiee. 

Lieutenant-Commander  Richardson  Clover,  U.vS.  N.,  Hydrographer. 

A  branch  of  the  Bureau  of  Navigation,  Navy  Department.  Offices  in  the 
Department  building,  basement,  east  front. 

Work  consists  essentially  in  the  supplying  to  vessels  of  war  and  the  merchant- 
marine  of  charts,  sailing  directions,  light  lists,  publications  relating  to  marine  meteor- 
ology, and  other  information.  The  object  of  the  office  is  to  secure  the  earliest  possible 
reliable  information  from  all  sources  and  to  put  it  promptly  before  those  especially 
interested  in  navigation. 

Branch  offices  are  established  in  nine  of  the  principal  ports  of  the  United  States  ; 
each  of  these  is  in  the  charge  of  a  naval  officer,  with  one  or  more  assistants.  In  this 
way  information  is  readily  collected  and  promptly  circulated. 

The  Office  is  divided  into  the  following  divisions  : 

First. — Chart  Constricdmi.  In  charge  of  the  actual  engraving  of  charts.  Here 
can  be  seen  everj^  step  in  the  process,  from  the  time  the  working  sheets  are  received 
from  the  surveying  vessels  until  the  final  chart  is  printed  from  the  copperplate. 
About  60  new  nautical  chart-plates  are  produced  every  year,  and  about  30,000  charts 
are  printed  from  copperplates. 

Second. — Issice  and  Supply.  In  charge  of  the  issuing  and  supplying  of  charts 
to  naval  and  other  vessels.  A  supply  of  every  chart  likely  to  be  required  is  kept  on 
hand.  Including  lithographed  charts,  the  office  itself  issues  863  different  charts,  about 
10,000  copies  being  sold  per  year  and  7,000  issued  to  U.  S.  Naval  vessels. 

Third. — Sailing  Directions.  This  division  has  general  charge  of  the  archives  of 
the  office  (where  all  original  data  are  kept,  copies  of  every  chart  ever  issued  by  any 
office  and  now  in  actual  use,  and  a  copy  of  every  chart  ever  issued  by  the  Hydrographic 
Office)  ;  the  preparation  and  publication  of  sailing  directions  for  various  oceans  ;  the 
publication  and  correction  of  the  six  volumes  of  light  lists  (lists  of  light-houses)  ;  and 
the  weekly  Notices  to  Marines,  a  pamphlet  containing  mention  of  all  corrections  and 
changes  in  charts  and  other  ptiblications  (circulation  about  1,000  copies  per  week,  not 
counting  the  reprints  of  various  paragraphs). 

Fourth. — Mari7ie  Meteorology .  In  charge  of  the  general  subject  of  climate, 
weather,  storms,  currents,  best  sailing  and  steam  routes,  etc.  The  monthly  Pilot 
Chart  of  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean,  the  weekly  Hydrographic  Bulletin,  and  occasional 
treatises  on  storms  of  various  oceans  are  prepared  and  published  by  this  division,  which 
has  a  corps  of  about  1,000  voluntary  observers  who  take  daily  observations  and  send 
in  their  reports  from  every  port.  The  Pilot  Chart  has  a  monthly  circulation  of  3,300 
copies,  and  is  supplied  free  to  the  voluntary  observers  in  return  for  their  ob.servations. 
It  contains  a  forecast  for  the  month  succeeding  the  day  of   issue  and  a  review  of  the 


preceding  month,  showing  graphically  the  direction  and  force  of  prevailing  winds,  the 
tracks  of  storms,  positions  and  tracks  of  derelict  vessels,  ice,  buoys,  and  other  obstruc- 
tions to  navigation. 

Fifth. — Mailino;  Division.  This  has  charge  of  the  correspondence  with  the 
branch  offices  and  the  mailing  of  all  publications. 

U.  Z.  lla-02  XJard. 

Commodore  J.   vS.   Skerrett,  U.  S.  N.,   Commandant. 

The  Navy  Yard  is  situated  on  the  Anacostia  river,  southea.st  of  the  Capitol. 
It  is  reached  by  the  Washington  and  Georgetown  Railroad  in  cars  marked  "Navy 
Yard ' ' ;  time  from  Lafayette  Square  to  the  Navy  Yard,  about  35  minutes.  It  was 
formerly  a  ship-yard  and  many  famous  vessels  were  built  there.  It  is  now  entirely  de- 
voted to  the  construction  of  modern  ordnance,  and  its  various  shops  are  amply  equipped 
with  the  best  modern  machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  large  guns.  There  is  a 
museum  of  interesting  articles  in  the  Yard.  The  Navy  Yard  is  open  to  visitors  from 
7  a.  m.  until  sundown. 

%1.  Z.  TlQapine  13arpaeks. 

The  Marine  Barracks  is  the  long  row  of  buildings  on  the  ground  facing  Eighth 
street,  two  squares  north  of  the  Navy  Yard.  In  the  armory  on  the  south  side  are 
found  some  interesting  old  relics. 


%vzd.ZMV^  T)epai'l'menl'. 

Honorable  Charles  Fo.stp:r,  Secretary. 

The  Treasury  Department  stands  on  Fifteenth  street,  east  of  the  White  House. 
This  building,  of  Grecian  Ionic  style  of  architecture,  is,  like  the  Capitol,  the  result  of 
extensions  of  the  original  plan.  Mr.  Thomas  U.  Walter  was  in  both  ca.ses  the  archi- 
tect of  the  extensions,  and  produced  a  very  harmonious  effect.  The  old  part  of  the 
building  fronts  on  Fifteenth  street,  while  the  extensions  form  the  northern,  western 
and  southern  fronts.  The  original  portion  of  the  building  is  of  Virginia  sandstone, 
while  the  stone  employed  in  the  extensions  is  granite  from  Dix  Island,  Maine. 

Any  one  visiting  the  Treasury  should  not  fail  to  examine  the  columns  of  the 
new  portions,  as  they  are  monoliths,  31  feet  high  and  nearly  4  feet  in  diameter.  The 
main  objects  of  interest  are  the  United  States  Treasury  or  Cash  Room,  the  Vaults,  and 
the  Secret  Service  Bureau.  The  Cash  Room  is  ornamented  with  beautiful  marbles 
from  various  places.  Open  to  visitors  from  9  a.  m.  to  2  p.  m.  A  guide  is  sent  with 
visitors  to  all  places  open  to  the  public. 

13 


Unit'ed    ZJal'cs    IBinl'. 

Dr.  K.   O.   L,p:ech,   Director. 

The  Office  of  the  Director  of  the  Mint  is  in  the  Treasury  Building.  The 
Director  has  general  supervision  of  all  mints  and  assay  offices,  the  purchase  of 
silver  bullion,  and  the  allotment  of  its  coinage.  Two  annual  reports  are  published, 
one  upon  the  operations  of  the  mints  and  assay  offices,  and  a  second  upon  the 
statistics  of  the  production  of  the  precious  metals  in  the  United  States.  The  report 
for  the  calendar  j'ear  1890  bears  the  date  of.  February  26,  1891. 


United  21'al'ez  (Soast  and  Geodetie  Zmwz'^  and  ©ffiee  of  Zt'andard 

TRziqh^z   and   TDeasurez. 

Dr.  T.   C.   MendenhalIv,  Superintendent. 

The  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  is  a  bureau  under  the  Treasury  Department. 
Its  work,  begun  in  1817,  was  almost  immediately  stopped*  by  legislation,  but 
was  resumed  in  1S32  under  the  direction  of  Hassler,  its  first  superintendent.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Bache,  under  whom  the  Survey  reached  a  fuller  development  on  the 
plans  proposed  by  his  predecessor. 

Its  objects  are  primarily  to  make  surveys  of  the  coast  and  the  adjacent  waters, 
and  to  collocate  these  surveys  by  extended  trigonometric  operations  along  the  coasts 
and  across  the  interior.  It  is  also  charged  b}-  law  with  the  duty  of  ftirnishing  trigono- 
metric points  to  the  several  States. 

The  extent  of  the  surveyed  and  unsurveyed  shore  line  is  estimated  at  about 
145,000  kilometers. 

In  addition  to  its  mensurational  work,  which  is  of  the  highest  degree  of 
precision,  the  Survey  conducts  pendulum  observations,  tidal  researches  and  a  general 
magnetic  survey  of  the  whole  territory  of  the  United  States.  The  office  of  the  U.  S. 
Standard  of  Weights  and  Measures  is  also  under  the  direction  of  the  Superintendent, 
and  furnishes  standards  to  the  several  States  and  verifies  weights  and  measures. 

The  publications  of  the  Survey  are  : 

Annual  Reports,  showing  progress  and  containing  professional  papers. 

Charts  on  various  scales,  covering  the  coast  line,  for  the  use  of  navigators. 

Coast  Pilot,  a  series  of  volumes  giving  minute  descriptions  of  the  coast,  with 
sailing  directions. 

Tide  Tables,  giving  the  predicted  tides  at  the  chief  ports  of  the  United  States. 

Professional  and  scientific  paper's,  published  separatel}-  from  the  annual  reports, 
but  also  contained  in  them. 

Bulletins,  giving  early  results  of  work  accomplished. 

14 


Notices  to  Mariners,  giving  new  data  in  regard  to  published  charts. 

The  Charts,  Tide  Tables  and  Coast  Pilot  can  be  ])  urchased  at  the  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey  Office,  or  at  agencies  existing  in  the  principal  seaport  towns,  at 
about  the  cost  of  paper  and  printing. 

The  other  publications  are  for  gratuitous  distril)ution. 

The  office  is  located  on  New  Jersey  avenue,  near  B  street  southeast,  just  south 
of  the  Capitol. 

^Bureau   of   EngpaTping    ai2d   Ppii2l'ing. 

William   M.  Meredith,  Chief  of  Bureau. 

This  Bureau  occupies  a  large  brick  building  situated  on  the  corner  of  Fourteenth 
and  B  streets  southwest,  a  short  distance  from  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  Here  are 
engraved  and  printed  all  the  United  States  bonds,  the  paper  money  of  the  Government, 
and  the  internal  revenue  stamps.  It  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  interesting  bureaus 
to  the  general  visitor.  A  competent  guide  is  furnished  upon  application  to  the  Super- 
intendent of  the  building.     Open  to  visitors  from  9  a.  m.  to  2  p.  m. 


'Deparl'menl'   of  I'hc   InJeriop. 

Honorable  John   W.   Noble,  Secretary. 

This  department  building  occupies  the  block  bounded  by  F  and  G  and  Seventh 
and  Ninth  streets  northwest,  with  the  main  entrance  on  F  street.  It  is  a  massive  white 
structure  of  imposing  appearance  ;  the  centre  is  built  of  sandstone  and  the  wings  of 
white  marble,  resting  upon  a  basement  of  granite.  Under  this  department  are  gathered 
a  large  number  of  bureaus  :  the  Patent  Office,  the  Pension  Office,  General  I^and  Office, 
Office  of  Indian  Affairs,  Bureau  of  Education,  Commissioner  of  Railroads,  U.  S. 
Geological  Survey,  and  U.  S.  Census. 

nnil^ed   States   Qeologieal   Sur^e^- 

Major  J.  W.   POWELL,   Director. 

The  Geological  Survey  is  a  bureau  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior.  It  was 
established  by  Act  of  Congress,  March  3,  1879,  the  objects  as  provided  for  in  the  Act 
being  the  "classification  of  public  lands  and  examination  of  the  geological  structure, 
mineral  resources  and  products  of  the  National  domain."  The  President  appointed 
Hon.  Clarence  King  as  first  Director  of  the  Survey.  In  March,  1881,  Mr.  King 
retired  from  the  directorship  and  was  succeeded  by  Maj.  J.  W.  Powell,  under  whose 
guidance  the  work  of  the  Survey  has  developed  to  its  present  large  proportions. 

15 


On  account  of  the  extent  and  diversity  of  its  operations  this  work  is  at  present 
carried  on  by  a  number  of  coordinate  divisions  embracing  nearly  every  department  of 
geology  and  paleontology,  with  which  are  associated  laboratories  for  the  investigation 
of  chemical  and  physical  problems  directly  related  to  geology.  The  preparation  of  a 
topographical  map,  to  serve  as  a  basis  upon  which  the  geological  features  of  the 
country  are  finally  to  be  laid  down,  is  carried  on  in  the  Division  of  Geography,  with 
which  is  connected  a  large  force  of  topographical  engineers  and  a  corps  of  expert  litho- 
graphers. There  is  a  Division  of  Mining  Statistics  and  Technology  engaged  in  prepar- 
ing annual  reports,  showing  for  each  calendar  year  the  mineral  products  of  the  country. 
There  is  also  a  Division  of  Illustration,  with  which  is  connected  a  complete  photo- 
graphic laboratory  for  the  reproduction  of  negatives  taken  in  the  field,  and  copy- 
ing maps  and  drawings.  The  Geological  Survey  Library  contains  nearly  30,000 
volumes,  42,000  pamphlets,  and  over  22,000  maps.  The  distribution  of  the  Survey 
publications  is  in  charge  of  the  Librarian. 

The  office  of  the  Geological  Survey  is  located  in  the  Hooe  Building,  No.  1330 
F  street  northwest,  where  the  greater  part  of  the  geological  and  topographical  work  is 
elaborated,  the  field  explorations  being  conducted  during  the  season  in  all  portions  of 
the  United  States.  The  paleontological  collections  and  workshops  are  located  either 
in  the  Smithsonian  Institution  or  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  ;  in  the  latter  are  also 
the  chemical  and  physical  laboratories.  There  are  branch  ofiices  and  laboratories  of 
the  Survey  in  various  portions  of  the  country,  where  special  work  is  being  carried  on 
by  persons  connected  with  universities  and  colleges.  These  form  a  very  considerable 
portion  of  the  scientific  force. 
The  publications  of  the  Survey  are  : 

Aiimial  Reports.  By  the  Director  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  presenting  a 
summary  of  the  plans  and  operations  of  the  Survey,  accompanied  by  short  adminis- 
trative reports  from  chiefs  of  divisions,  followed  by  a  number  of  scientific  papers  of 
general  interest. 

Monographs.  Quarto  volumes,  containing  the  more  important  and  elaborate 
publications  of  the  Survey.     Seventeen  monographs  have  been  published. 

Bulletins.  Each  of  these  contains  but  one  paper  and  is  complete  in  itself. 
They  are,  for  the  most  part,  short  articles  giving  the  more  important  results  of  an 
investigation,  and  do  not  properly  come  under  the  head  of  Annual  Reports  or  Mono- 
graphs.    Seventy-nine  bulletins  have  been  published. 

Annual  Reports  iipon  the  A'Imeral  Resources  of  the  United  States. 
The  Annual  Reports  are  for  gratuitous  distribution.     Monographs  and  Bulletins 
are  sold  at  about  the  cost  of  publication.     A  limited  number  of  the  Mineral  Resources 
are  for  gratuitous  distribution. 

For  a  detailed  account  of  the  general  plan  and  scope  of  the  Survey  and  its 
methods  of  work,  see  the  Eighth  Annual  Report  of  the  Director  for  the  year  1886-87. 

16 


'U.  Z.  To^tznt  0ffies. 

Honora1)lc    W.   K.  SiMONDS,   Commissioner. 

The  Patent  Office  was  organized  in  its  present  form  in  1836.  It  occupies  cer- 
tain portions  of  the  main  building  on  F  street.  As  an  object  of  interest  to  visitors  its 
principal  features  are  the  simple  massive  architecture  of  the  building  itself,  and  the 
Model  Room  in  the  top  stor3%  where  models  of  all  patented  inventions  capable  of  being 
thus  represented  are  arranged  in  cases,  classified  by  subjects.  The  organization  includes 
an  Examining  Corps  with  thirty-two  divisions,  the  last  two  having  been  added 
recently  on  account  of  the  great  expansion  of  the  work  ;  the  Issue  and  Gazette, 
Drafting,  Assignment,  or  copying  divisions,  and  the  Scientific  Library.  This 
library  may  be  of  somewhat  especial  interest  to  scientific  men.  It  aims  to  embody, 
as  far  as  conditions  admit,  the  whole  literature  of  human  industry,  according  to 
its  main  purpose  of  assistance  to  the  examiners  in  their  researches.  It  is  a  repository 
of  applied,  rather  than  of  pure  science.  It  contains  about  50,000  volumes,  including 
pamphlets,  and  is  much  used  by  the  patent  profession  and  by  branches  of  the  Govern- 
ment doins:  scientific  work. 


II.  Z.  Bureau  of  'Edueal'ion. 

William   T.   Harris,   LI^.  D.,   Commissioner. 

This  Bureau  is  situated  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Eighth  and  G  streets  north- 
west. Its  functions  will  be  best  understood  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  Federal 
Government  of  the  United  States  does  not  support  or  control  the  schools  and  colleges 
of  the  country.  Each  State  has  full  jurisdiction  over  the  subject  of  education,  and  the 
public  schools  are  vState  institutions,  subject  entirely  to  State  laws.  The  Bureau  of  Ed- 
ucation is  an  agency  with  the  especial  function  of  increasing  the  enlightened  directive 
power  of  the  people  with  regard  to  their  schools.  This  function  is  performed  by  the 
publication  of  annual  and  special  reports,  and  occasional  bulletins  and  circulars  of  in- 
formation upon  educational  questions. 

The  material  for  these  reports  is  collected  by  extensive  correspondence  with 
the  officials  in  charge  of  State,  city  and  county  public  school  systems,  with  the  presi- 
dents and  principals  of  universities,  colleges,  seminaries,  high  schools,  and  other  sec- 
ondary schools,  and  with  the  ministers  of  education  of  foreign  countries  and  officers 
and  professors  of  foreign  institutions  of  learning. 

The  Library  of  the  Bureau  contains  17,500  bound  volumes,  including  all  im- 
portant pedagogical  works,  and  100,000  pamphlets. 

17 


n.  5.  Census. 

Honorable    ROBERT    P.   PORTKR,   vSuperintendeiit. 

The  Census  Office  is  established  by  act  of  Congress  every  ten  years.  During 
its  short  term  it  employs  thousands  of  clerks,  besides  enumerators  and  special  agents  in 
all  parts  of  the  United  vStates.  The  executive  office  is  at  the  corner  of  Third  and  G 
streets  northwest.  The  count  of  the  population  for  the  year  1890  was  made  at  the 
Inter-Ocean  Building  on  Ninth  street,  between  E  and  F  streets  northwest.  In  this 
work  the  ingenious  electric  counting  machines  invented  by  Dr.  Hollerith  were  used 
and  may  be  seen  in  operation,  together  with  the  electric  classifying  system.  The 
results  thus  far  published  are  in  the  form  of  bulletins,  eighty-four  of  which  have  been 
issued.     Copies  of  most  of  these  can  be  obtained  by  application  at  the  executive  office. 

"Pension  IBureau. 

Honorable  GREEN  B.  Raum,  Commissioner. 
The  administration  of  the  enormous  business  of  the  Pension  Office  requires  a 
large  building.  It  stands  by  itself  in  Judiciary  Square,  between  Fourth  and  Fifth  and 
F  and  G  streets  northwest.  It  is  an  imposing  edifice,  constructed  entirely  of  red  brick 
ornamented  with  terra  cotta.  The  inauguration  balls  of  March  4,  1S85,  and  March  4, 
1889,  were  given  in  the  central  hall. 


"Depapjjment  of  ^grieultups. 

Honorable  J.  M.  Rusk,  Secretary. 
(Established  by  au  Act  of  Congress,  February  9,  1S89). 

The  Secretary  of  Agriculture  is  charged  with  the  supervision  of  all  public 
business  relating  to  the  agricultural  industry  of  the  country.  He  exercises  advisory 
supervision  over  the  agricultural  experiment  stations  deriving  support  from  the  National 
Treasury,    and  has  control  of  the  quarantine  stations  for  imported  and  domestic  cattle. 

The  i\ssistant  Secretary  has  general  control  and  direction  of  a  large  number 
of  scientific  divisions  in  charge  of  specialists,  whose  duties  may  be  concisely  expressed 
as  follows  : 

The  Statistician  collects  all  information  as  to  the  principal  crops  and  farm  animals, 
and  obtains  similar  information  from  European  countries.  He  publishes  a  monthly 
bulletin  of  the  statistics  of  the  agricultural  production,  distribution  and  consumption. 

The  Entomologist  obtains  and  disseminates  information  regarding  insects,  and 
appropriate  remedies  for  their  extirpation. 


The  Botanist  investigates  plants  and  lyrasses  of  agricultural  value  or  of  injurious 
character,  and  answers  inquiries  relating  to  the  same,  and  has  charge  of  the  Herbarium. 

The  Chemist  makes  analyses  of  natural  fertilizers,  vegetable  products  and  other 
materials  which  pertain  to  the  interests  of  agriculture. 

The  Ornithologist  investigates  the  economic  relations  of  birds  and  mammals,  and 
recommends  measures  for  the  preservation  of  those  species  beneficial  to  crops  and  the 
destruction  of  injurious  species. 

The  Director  of  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations  .secures,  as  far  as  practicable, 
uniformity  of  methods  in  the  work  of  the  stations  throughout  the  country.  He  also 
compiles  and  publishes  such  of  the  results  of  the  station  experiments  as  may  be  deemed 
necessary. 

The  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry  investigates  the  existence  of 
dangerous  contagious  diseases  of  live  stock,  superintends  the  measures  for  their  extir- 
pation, and  makes  original  investigations  as  to  the  nature  and  prevention  of  such 
diseases  ;  has  charge  of  the  quarantine  stations  for  cattle,  and  reports  on  the  animal 
industries  of  the  country. 

The  Pomologist  collects  and  distributes  information  in  regard  to  the  fruit 
industry  of  the  United  States  and  the  best  means  for  its  improvement. 

The  Chief  of  the  Division  of  Vegetable  Pathology  investigates  the  diseases  of 
plants,  and  seeks  to  determine  remedies  for  their  mitigation  and  prevention. 

The  Chief  of  the  Division  of  Forestry  is  occupied  with  experiments  and  reports 
regarding  forestry  ;  with  the  distribution  of  seeds  of  valuable  economic  trees,  and  with 
the  dissemination  of  information  upon  forestry  matters. 

The  Microscopist  makes  investigations  relating  to  parasitic  growths  ;  to  the 
characteristics  of  fibres,  and  to  the  adulteration  of  foods. 

The  Seed  Division  collects  new  and  valuable  seeds  and  plants  for  propagation 
in  this  country  and  distributes  them  to  applicants,  who  are  required  to  furnisli  tlic 
department  with  a  report  as  to  results  obtained  with  seeds  so  furnished  them. 

The  publications  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  consists  of  an 

Annual  Report. 

Special  Reports  on  various  subjects,  published  from  time  to  time. 

Bulletins  by  the  Divisions  of 

Botany,  Chemistry,  Statistics,  Entomology,  Forestry,  Pomology  and   Experiment 
Stations. 

Periodical  Bulletins  entitled  : 

"Insect  Eife,"    "North  American  Fauna,"    "Journal  of  Mycology,"  and   "Con- 
tributions from  the  U.  S.  National  Herbarium." 

19 


%hQ   tHeal'hep  Bureau. 

Professor  Mark  W.   Harrington,   Chief. 

The  Weather  Bureau,  which  was  transferred  to  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
on  July  I,  1S91,  has  its  office  at  the  corner  of  Twenty-fourth  and  M  streets  northwest, 
immediately  adjoining  the  grounds  of  the  Columbia  Hospital. 

The  Librar}',  under  the  management  of  Mr.  O.  L.  Fassig,  containing  ir,ooo 
volumes  and  3,000  pamphlets  ;  the  Instrument  Room,  under  Professor  C.  F.  Marvnn, 
and  the  Indications  Room  will  be  found  interesting  to  visitors. 

The  observations  made  daily  at  8  a.  m.  are  displayed  on  a  printed  map  with 
accompanying  predictions  for  the  next  tliirty-six  hours,  and  will  be  furnished  by  11 
a.  m.  daily  for  the  use  of  the  American  Association,  the  Geological  Society  of  America, 
and  the  International  Congress  of  Geologists. 


*Fosl'-©ffiee   T)epapl'mei2^- 

Honorable   John   Wanamaker,   Postmaster-General. 

This  department  occu]:ies  a  massive  structure  opposite  the  Department  of  the 
Interior.  It  covers  an  entire  square  bounded  by  E  and  F  and  Seventh  and  Eighth 
streets.  It  is  built  of  white  marble.  The  main  feature  of  interest  is  the  dead-letter 
office,  to  visit  which  a  pass  from  the  Chief  Clerk  is  necessary. 


T)epar-l'mei2i'  of  Justiee. 

Honorable   Wilt.iam    H.  H.   Miller,   Attorney-General. 

This  department  is  situated  on  Penn.sylvania  avenue,  between  Fifteenth  street 
and  Lafayette  Square.  It  is  four  stories  high  and  built  of  Potomac  Seneca  redstone. 
The  office  of  the  Attorney-General  contains  a  gallery  of  portraits  of  all  the  Attorneys- 
General  of  the  United  vStates  since  the  foundation  of  the  government.  The  Court  of 
Claims  occupies  the  first  floor  of  the  building. 


"^he   Smithsonian  Inztil'ut'ioi]. 

Professor   S.  P.  Langley,  Secretary. 

The  Smithsonian  Institution  is  supported  1)\-  a  permanent  fund  at  present 
amounting  to  $703,000,  the  accumulations  of  a  bequest  to  the  United  States  made  in 
1826  by  James  Smitlison,  a  scientist  of  liiigland,  "  to  found  at  Washington  under  the 

20 


name  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  an  estnhlishmcnt  for  the  increase  and  diffusion  of 
knowledge  among  men."  Some  years  were  occupied  in  securing  the  bequest  and  in 
perfecting  plans  for  carrying  out  its  provisions.  By  Act  of  Congress,  August  lo, 
1846,  the  Institution  was  created  as  an  "Establishment,"  of  which  the  President  and 
the  other  principal  officers  of  the  general  government  were  made  ex-officio  members, 
while  the  direction  of  affairs  was  intrusted  to  a  Board  of  Regents  "  to  be  composed  of 
the  Vice-President,  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  (the  Mayor  of  Washing- 
ton), three  members  of  the  Senate,  and  three  members  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, together  with  six  other  persons  other  than  members  of  Congress,  two  of  whom 
shall  be  resident  in  the  City  of  Washington,  and  the  other  four  shall  be  inhabitants  of 
some  state,  but  no  two  of  the  same  state." 

The  plan  of  organization  adopted  contains  the  following  propositions  : 

"  I.  To  increase  knowledge.  It  is  proposed  to  stimulate  men  of  talent  to  make 
original  researches  by  offering  suitable  rewards  for  memoirs  containing  new  truths. 

"  II.  To  increase  knowledge.  It  is  also  proposed  to  appropriate  a  portion  of 
the  income  annually  to  special  objects  of  research  under  the  direction  of  suitable  per- 
sons. 

"  III.  To  diffuse  knowledge.  It  is  proposed  to  publish  a  series  of  periodical 
reports  giving  an  account  of  the  progress  of  the  different  branches  of  knowledge. 

"IV.  To  diffuse  knowledge.  It  is  proposed  to  publish  occasionally  separate 
treatises  on  subjects  of  general  interest." 

A  further  part  of  the  plan  contemplated  the  formation  of  a  Library,  a  Museum 
and  a  Gallery  of  Art. 

While  the  developments  of  the  past  forty-five  years  iiave  been  greater  in  some 
directions  than  in  others,  the  original  plan  has  been  consistently  followed  with  highly 
gratifying  results. 

The  chief  administrative  officer  of  the  Institution  is  the  Secretary,  a  position 
which  has  been  occupied  by  only  three  persons,  namely,  Joseph  Henry,  Spencer  P\ 
Baird  and  Samuel  P.  Langley.  The  Assistant  Secretary  is  the  officer  in  charge  of  the 
National  Museum. 

The  Smithsonian  Building  is  situated  in  that  division  of  the  Mall,  between 
Seventh  and  Twelfth  streets,  known  as  Smithsonian  Park.  It  was  built,  1847- 1856, 
at  a  cost  of  $450,000,  after  designs  by  Renwick.  The  style  is  termed  "  Norman  "  or 
"  Romanesque,"  and  the  material  is  a  lilac-gra}'  freestone,  found  in  the  red  sand- 
stone formation  about  twentj^-three  miles  above  Washington.  The  building  contains 
at  present  the  administrativ-e  offices,  reading  room,  the  exchange  department,  and 
several  collections  of  the  National  Mu.seum,  notably  those  of  birds,  shells  and  archaeo- 
logical specimens. 

The  lyibrary  of  the  vSmithsonian  Institution  consists  of  more  than  250,000 
volumes  and  parts  of  volumes.      It  is  for  the  most  part  deposited  in  the  Congressional 


21 


Library,  but  each  department  of  the  Institution  and  the  National  Museum  is  supplied 
with  such  books  as  relate  to  its  special  work.  The  collection  of  the  publications  of 
scientific  societies  and  of  scientific  periodicals  is  very  large. 

The  Smith.sonian  Bureau  of  International  Exchanges,  which  was  early  insti- 
tuted, has  accomplished  a  great  work  in  distributing  in  this  country  and  abroad  the 
government  publications,  and  the  publications  of  scientific  and  literary  societies  of 
almost  every  country  in  the  world.  By  its  agency  the  Smithsonian  Library  has  been 
enriched  with  many  rare  works  of  reference,  and  the  publications  of  the  Institution 
have  been  scattered  far  and  wide.  The  general  government  has  now  assumed  the 
support  of  this  Bureau,  and  has  made  the  Institution  its  agent  in  distributing  all 
government  scientific  publications  to  foreign  countries.  An  idea  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  work  may  be  formed  from  the  statement  that  more  than  90,000  packages,  repre- 
senting over  100  tons  of  books,  pass  through  the  Bureau  each  year.  Over  16,000 
correspondents,  societies  and  individuals,  are  upon  the  exchange  list. 

The  Smithsonian  Institution  is  charged  by  Congress  with  the  expenditure  of 
the  sums  annuall}^  appropriated  for  the  Bureau  of  International  Exchanges,  the  Bureau 
of  Ethnology,  the  National  Museum,  and  the  National  Zoological  Park. 

Publications. — The  Smithsonian  Institution  has  three  classes  of  publications  : 

First — "Contributions  to  Knowledge,"  a  quarto  series,  in  which  are  included 
memoirs  giving  new  facts  obtained  in  original  research. 

Second — "Miscellaneous  Collections,"  an  octavo  series,  containing  practical 
papers  or  treatises,  such  as  systematic  lists  of  species  in  the  animal,  vegetable  or 
mineral  kingdoms,  tables  of  natural  constants,  scientific  bibliographies,  and  other 
summaries. 

Third — "Annual  Reports,"  an  octavo  series,  containing  the  yearly  report  of  the 
Secretary  to  Congress  of  work  done,  and  supplemented  by  short  papers  upon  the  most 
important  scientific  discoveries  of  the  year,  by  bibliographies  of  current  literature,  and 
by  accounts  of  progress  in  various  sciences. 

In  the  Park  near  the  northwestern  corner  of  the  building  is  a  bronze  statue  to 
the  memory  of  Joseph  Henry,  the  first  Secretary,  to  whose  wise  guidance  the  Institu- 
tion owes  a  large  share  of  its  prosperity. 

%h,z  llational  TDuseum. 

G.  Brown  Goode,  Assistant   Secretary. 

The  National  Museum  is  maintained  by  annual  Congressional  appropriations 
which  are  expended  under  the  direction  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  and  the  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  latter  is  in  charge  of  the  Museum.  The  Museum  originated  in  1840, 
when  the  National  Institution  was  organized,  and  the  collection  of  the  Wilkes  expe- 
dition constituted  its  nucleus.     In  1849  a  museum  was  established  by  the  Smithsonian 

22 


Institution,  and  this,  in  185S,  was  made  the  repository  of  all  the  scientific  collections 
of  the  government,  including  those  of  the  National  Institution.  It  acquired  ver}-  large 
collections  from  various  sources  at  the  close  of  the  Centennial  Ivxposition,  in  1876,  and 
from  that  time  has  been  recognized  as  the  National  Museum  of  the  United  States. 
The  large  accessions  in  1876  led  to  the  erection  of  the  present  museum  building  (1879- 
1881),  but  the  additions  since  its  occupation  are  sufficient  to  fill  a  much  larger  building 
than  the  present  one.  Out  of  thirtj^-three  departments  and  sections  there  are  seven  to 
which  no  room  for  exhibition  purposes  can  be  assigned  in  the  Museum  building  for  lack 
of  space.  To  some  of  these  departments,  however,  have  been  allotted  inadecpiate  ac- 
commodations in  the  Smithsonian  building. 

No  official  guide  to  the  collections  has  yet  been  publi.shed,  although  the  curators 
of  several  of  the  departments  have  prepared  hand-books  descriptive  of  the  collections 
under  their  charge.  On  the  right,  at  the  entrance  to  the  Museum,  is  a  bureau  of  in- 
formation for  the  guidance  of  visitors. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Scientific  Departments  in  the  Museum  : 
I.     fArts  and  Industries  ||  :    G.  Brown  Goode,*  Assistant  Secretary,   acting   as 
curator. 
fEthnology  :   Otis  T.  Mason,  curator. 

t  American  Aboriginal  Pottery  :  Wm.  H.  Holmes,*  curator. 
X  Prehistoric  Anthropology  :  Thomas  Wilson,  curator. 
t  Mammals  :    F.  W.  True,  curator. 
X  Birds  :   Robert  Ridgway,  curator. 
;}:  Birds'  Eggs:  Capt.  Charles  E.  Bendire,*  curator. 

Reptiles  :  Dr.  Eeonhard  Stejneger,  curator. 
I  Fishes  :  Tarleton  H.  Bean,*  curator, 
t  Vertebrate  Fossils:  O.  C.  Marsh,*  curator.' 

;{;  Mollusks  :  W.  H.  Dall,*  curator.     R.  E.  C.  Stearns,  adjunct  curator. 
t  Insects  :  C.  V.  Rile)-,*  curator. 

Marine  Invertebrates  :  Richard  Rathbun,*  curator. 
t  Comparative  Anatomy  :  Frank  Baker,  *  curator. 
t  Invertebrate  Fossils  : 

Paleozoic — C.  D.  Walcott,*  curator. 
•    Mesozoic — C.  A.  White-,*  curator. 
Cenozoic — W.  H.  Dall,*  curator. 
t  Fossil  Plants  :  Lester  F.  Ward,*  curator. 

§  Botany  :  Dr.  George  Vasey,*  curator.  Botanist  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, 
t  Minerals  :   F.  W.  Clarke,*  curator. 
t  Geology  :  George  P.  Merrill,  curator. 


II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 


XIV. 
XV. 

XVI, 

XVII. 


II  This  department  at  the  present  time  includes  twelve  different  sections,  each  of  which  is  under 
the  charge  of  a  curator,  or  an  assistant  acting  as  a  curator. 

*  Honorary. 

t  Departments  with  exhibits  in  the  Museum  building. 

%  Departments  with  exhibits  in  the  Smithsonian  building. 

^The  National  Herbarium  is  for  the  present  kept  in  the  building  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture. 

23 


For  information  regarding  the  general  collections  of  the  National  Museum  the 
visitor  is  referred  to  a  guide  :  "The  Smithsonian,  the  National  Museum  and  the  Zoo," 
to  be  purchased  (25c.)  in  the  rotunda  of  the  Museum.  This  book  is  not  an  official 
publication.  For  the  geological  collections,  the  arrangement  of  which  has  recently 
been  changed,  the  visitor  should  secure  the  preliminar}-  hand-book  of  the  department 
of  geology  by  the  curator,  G.  P.  Merrill.  The  Geological  Department  embraces  both 
economic  and  general  geology.  In  the  Mineralogical  Hall  are  the  systematic  mineral 
collection,  a  collection  of  gems  and  precious  stones  and  one  of  meteorites. 

The  publications  of  the  National-  Museum  embrace  the  "Proceedings,"  the 
"  Bulletins"  and  the  "Annual  Report,"  which  forms  the  second  volume  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Report,  and  whose  appendix  contains  many  scientific  papers. 


Bureau  of  "El^hnolog^. 

Major  J.  W.  PowELL,   Director. 

The  Bureau  of  Ethnology  was  organized  in  1879,  and  was  placed  under  the 
direction  of  Major  J.  W.  Powell,  Director  of  the  Geological  Survey.  In  its  early  years 
it  was  so  closely  associated  with  the  Geological  Survey  that  its  work  was  and  still  is 
often  confounded  with  the  work  of  that  Bureau.  It  is,  however,  a  separate  and  distinct 
organization  supported  b}'  specific  appropriations  made  by  the  general  government,  and 
the  general  supervision  of  its  scientific  work  is  confided  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution.     The  appropriation  for  the  current  year  is  ^50,000. 

The  work  of  the  Bureau  comprises  the  whole  field  of  North  American 
Ethnology,  including  Archaeology  ;  and  the  range  of  its  work  extends  from  Alaska 
on  the  north  to  Panama  and  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  on  the  south.  Its  collections  are 
deposited  in  the  National  Museum,  and  those  branches  of  Indian  art  to  which  it  has 
especially  devoted  attention  are  now  illustrated  b}-  collections  of  specimens  which 
compare  favorably  with  those  of  the  largest  museums.  Its  collection  of  aboriginal 
American  Pottery,  now  in  the  National  Museum,  is  notably  the  largest  and  finest  in 
existence. 

The  publications  of  the  Bureau  comprise  Annual  Reports,  to  which,  are 
appended  papers  upon  subjects  of  general  interest,  a  series  of  Bulletins,  consisting  of 
reports  upon  special  subjects,  and  Quarto  Contributions  to  North  American  Ethnology. 
These  publications  are  distributed  throvigh  the  exchange  system  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution. 

The  office  of  Major  Powell  is  in  the  Geological  Survey  Building,  No.  1330  F 
street  northwest. 

24 


%hc  "U.  Z.  (2ommissior2  of  "Pish  and  "E^ishepiez. 

Colonel  Marshaij.  IMcDonam),  Connnissioner. 

The  Commission  was  established  primarily  with  the  object  of  determininj;-  the 
cause  of  decrease  among  food-fishes,  and  of  suggesting  measures  for  the  improvement 
of  the  fishing  grounds.  Its  scope,  however,  has  been  rapidly  enlarged  to  cover  all 
matters  pertaining  to  fisheries  which  come  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment, including  the  propagation  of  useful  fishes  and  the  methods  and  statistics  of 
the  fishing  business.  Colonel  Marshall  McDonald,  the  present  Commissioner,  suc- 
ceeded Professor  Spencer  F.  Baird,  upon  the  death  of  the  latter  in  1887. 

The  work  of  the  Commission  is  arranged  under  three  divisions,  as  follows  :  The 
Division  of  Scientific  Inquiry  is  charged  with'  the  investigation  of  the  fishing  grounds 
relative  to  their  resources  and  characteristics,  their  depletion  and  the  methods  suited  to 
their  replenishment ;  and  also  with  the  study  of  the  habits  and  development  of  fishes 
as  a  basis  for  fish  culture,  legislation  and  fishery  methods.  The  Division  of  Fish  Cul- 
ture undertakes  the  propagation  of  food-fishes,  their  distribution  to  different  localities, 
the  restocking  of  exhausted  grounds,  and  the  introduction  of  useful  foreign  species. 
The  Division  of  Fisheries  considers  the  methods  and  apparatus  of  the  fishermen  with 
a  view  to  their  improvement,  and  collects  the  statistics  of  the  different  branches  of  the 
business. 

The  investigations  along  the  seacoasts  are  chiefly  carried  on  by  means  of  two 
steamers,  the  Albatross  and  Fish  Hawk,  and  one  sailing  vessel,  the  schooner  Grampus. 
The  Albatross  is  now  stationed  on  the  Pacific  coast,  the  Fish  Hawk  and  Grampus  on 
the  Atlantic  coast  ;  the  two  latter  vessels  being  also  employed  to  some  extent  in  fish 
culture.  There  are  two  marine  stations  for  the  hatching  of  cod,  mackerel,  lobsters  and 
several  other  salt-water  species,  one  located  at  Wood's  Holl,  the  other  at  Gloucester, 
Massachusetts.  The  former  is  also  adapted  to  scientific  inquiries,  being  provided  with 
large  and  well  equipped  laboratories  for  biological  and  physical  research.  A  number 
of  fresh-water  and  auadromous  fishes  are  propagated  upon  a  very  exhaustive  scale, 
the  most  important  being  the  shad,  lake  whitefish,  carp,  Atlantic  and  Pacific  salmon 
and  several  species  of  trout.  For  conducting  this  work  twenty-one  stations  have  been 
established  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  each  embodying  the  most  approved  methods 
applicable  to  the  branch  of  fish  culture  for  which  it  is  adapted.  Several  cars,  specially 
constructed  for  that  purpose,  are  used  for  the  distribution  of  the  eggs  and  fry  as  well 
as  the  adult  fishes. 

The  officers  of  the  Commission  are  located  in  Armory  Square,  Washington 
(B  street  southwest,  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  streets).  The  same  building  contains  a 
biological  laboratory,  extensive  aquaria  for  the  study  and  display  of  salt  and  fresh- 
water fishes,  and  also  one  of  the  principal  shad-hatching  stations,  for  which  the  supply 
of  eggs  is  obtained  from  the  important  fisheries  of  the  Potomac  river  during  the  spring. 

25 


Large  ponds  for  the  breeding  of  German  carp  are  situated  on  the  Mall  near  the  Wash- 
ington Monument.  Tench,  golden  ide  and  goldfish  are  also  produced  there  in  small 
numbers,  and  one  of  the  ponds  now  contains  about  2,000,000  shad  fry  of  the  last  sea- 
son's hatching. 

Collections  illustrating  the  work  of  the  Fish  Commission  are  exhibited  by  the 
National  Museum.  The  models  of  fishing  boats,  fishing  apparatus  and  the  Cetaceans 
are  displayed  in  the  Museum  building,  and  the  fishes,  mollusks,  crustaceans  and  lower 
marine  invertebrates  in  the  Smithsonian  building,  where  a  large  part  of  the  zoological 
material  obtained  during  the  investigations  of  the  Commission  is  also  stored. 


'Edueational  Insl^itutionz. 

Gcorgctozvn  University  is  the  oldest  educational  institution  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  America.  Founded  in  1789  ;  incorporated  as  a  university  in  18 15.  Has 
collegiate,  law  and  medical  departments.     President,  Rev.  J.  Haven  Richards,  S.  J. 

The  Cohivibian  University  was  incorporated  b}^  Act  of  Congress  February  9, 
182 1,  as  a  college  and  re -incorporated  as  a  university  in  1873.  It  has  collegiate,  law 
and  medical  departments.  Its  main  building  is  that  within  which  the  meetings  of  the 
Congress  of  Geologists  are  held,  corner  of  H  and  Fifteenth  streets  northwest.  Presi- 
dent, Dr.  J.  C.  Welling. 

Hoivard  University  is  devoted  to  the  higher  education  of  the  colored  race.  It 
was  founded  in  1867,  and  is  supported  b\'  the  Government.  It  has  a  collegiate 
department,  and  schools  of  theology,  law  and  medicine.  The  average  attendance  is 
300.      President,  Rev.  J.  E.  Rankin. 

Catholic  University  of  America.  Founded  in  1889.  Situated  at  Brookland,  a 
suburb  of  the  city,  east  of  the  Soldiers'  Home.  Is  reached  by  the  Metropolitan 
Branch  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad.  The  Divinity  School  is  the  only  depart- 
ment at  present  organized.     The  Rector  is  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  J.  Keane,  D.D. 

Columbia  I?istitiition  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  and  National  Deaf  Mute  College. 
This  institution  has  two  departments,  a  primary  and  a  collegiate  ;  the  former  estab- 
lished in  1857,  the  latter  in  1864.  It  is  supported  by  Congressional  appropriations. 
The  development  of  the  institution  has  been  from  the  first  under  the  guidance  of  Dr. 
E.  M.  Gallaudet,  now  President  of  the  Faculty.  This  college  is  the  only  one  in  the 
world  for  deaf  mutes.  It  is  situated  just  beyond  the  northeastern  boundary  of  the  city 
in  the  park  called  Kendall  Green,  a  portion  of  the  estate  of  Amos  Kendall,  the  orig- 
inal promoter  of  the  school  and  its  first  President. 

26 


(EoTpcpnmenl?  "Fpinlfing  Offiec. 

This  building  is  situated  on  the  corner  of  North  Capitol  and  H  streets.  It  is 
300  feet  long  on  H  street  and  four  stories  high.  All  the  printing  and  binding  ordered 
by  the  Legislative,  Executive  and  Judicial  Departments  of  the  Government  is  done 
in  this  building.  It  is  the  largest  establishment  of  the  kind  in  the  world.  Open  from 
8  a.  m.  to  5  p.  m. 


Isibraries  of  tJIashingl^on. 

The  Libraries  of  the  General  Government  have  arisen  from  the  exigencies  of 
public  business,  and  with  the  growth  of  new  bureaus  the  formation  of  separate  reference 
libraries  has  become  necessary.  With  few  exceptions  these  libraries  have  been  formed 
with  reference  to  the  special  need  of  bureaus,  and  though  small  are  very  complete 
in  their  own  subjects. 

Ijibrar^  of  (Congress. 

The  Library  of  Congress  dates  from  the  first  meeting  of  Congress  in  the  City 
of  Washington  in  1800  ;  it  was  burned  by  the  British  in  18 14;  was  replaced  by  the 
purchase  of  Jefferson's  Library  and  grew  to  contain  about  55,000  books  in  1S51,  when 
a  fire  destroyed  all  but  20,000  books.  Since  1852  it  has  grown  steadily  and  of  late 
rapidly.  In  1866  the  books  accruing  to  the  Smithsonian  Institution  by  exchange 
were  diverted  to  the  Library  of  Congress,  and  in  1867  the  large  historical  collection 
of  Peter  Force  was  purchased  and  added  to  it.  It  now  numbers  about  650,000 
volumes. 

House  of  l^cppescnl'al'i'C'ez. 

The  Library  of  the  House  of  Representatives  is  almost  exclusively  of  a  docu- 
mentary character,  containing  legislative  and  executive  volumes  for  the  use  of  members 
of  the  House.     Including  duplicates  it  numbers  125,000  volumes. 


Senate. 

The  Library  of  the  Senate  was  begun  in  1852,  and  consists  entirely  of  public 
documents  for  the  use  of  Senators.     At  present  it  contains  47,000  volumes. 

27 


The  Library  of  the  Executive  Mansion  is  very  like  a  miscellaneous  family 
library.  It  began  to  accumulate  in  the  time  of  President  Madison  and  now  contains 
about  4,000  volumes. 

Slfate  IDeparl^ment'. 

The  Library  of  the  State  Department  dates  from  the  organization  of  the  govern- 
ment, in  1789.  It  is  made  up  of  works  on  the  laws  of  nations,  diplomatic  and  general 
history,  voyages  and  cognate  subjects, '  and  contains  50,000  volumes  and  3,000 
pamphlets. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Repubi^iCvS  has  collected  about  1,100  volumes 
relating  to  the  Spanish  republics  of  this  continent,  with  special  reference  to  all 
questions  of  international  comity  and  commerce. 

*nJreasur'2  T)epaptmenlf. 

The  General  Library  of  the  Treasury  is  for  the  entertainment  of  Treasury 
Department  clerks  and  is  mainly  biography,  history  and  fiction.  It  contains  18,000 
volumes. 

The  Bureau  of  Statistics  began  in  1866  to  collect  the  statistical  publications 
of  the  world,  and  now  contains  5,000  volumes  and  6,500  pamphlets. 

The  Coast  Survey  Library  contains  about  8,000  volumes  and  7,000  pamph- 
lets of  highly  special  character.  Its  archives  contain  about  5,000  original  manuscript 
maps  and  65,000  record  books  of  observation,  computation  and  reduction.  Its  collec- 
tion  of  foreign  maps  and  charts  numbers  9,000. 

The  Light-House  Board  has  a  library  begun  in  1852,  and  containing  now 
3,496  volumes  on  light,  sound,  naval  architecture  and  engineering. 

The  Marine  Hospitai.  Bureau  has  a  library  of  1,500  books  and  1,000 
pamphlets. 

WidiV  'Deparl'mcnt. 

The  General  Library  of  the  War  Department  was  begun  in  1832  under  Secre- 
tary Lewis  Cass.     It  is  devoted  chiefly  to  military  science  and  contains  30,000  volumes. 

The  Library  of  the  Ordnance  Bureau  is  devoted  to  military  engineering,  gun- 
nery and  military  and  civil  law.     It  contains  3,000  volumes. 

The  Library  of  the  Surgeon-Generai^'s  Office  has  been  formed  since  the  war 
of  i86i-'65,  and  is  practically  the  medical  section  of  the  Library  of  Congress.  It 
covers  the  entire  field  of  medical  and  surgical  literature,  and  contains  101,969  volumes 
and  152,225  pamphlets. 

The  Soldier's  Home  has  a  library  dating  from  1S50.  It  is  of  a  miscellaneous 
character  and  contains  5,632  volumes. 

28 


The  Librarj'  at  the  Army  Headquarters,  begun  by  General  Grant  and  added 
to  by  Generals  Sherman  and  Sheridan,  is  of  considerable  value  for  its  especial  purpose. 

IQa^j^  T)epai»l'mei2t'. 

The  General  Library' of  the  Navy  Department  is  made  up  of  historical,  scientific 
and  legal  works  with  especial  relation  to  naval  afifairs.  It  numbers  24,086  volumes  and 
1,000  pamphlets. 

The  Bureau  of  Medicine  and  Surgery  has  a  library  of  special  reference 
works  of  a  medical  and  scientific  character,  which  numbers  15,998  volumes. 

The  Hydrographic  Office  library  was  begun  in  1867,  and  is  made  up  of 
hydrographical,  nautical  and  meteorological  works  ;  it  contains  about  3,000  volumes 
and  2,000  pamphlets. 

The  Library  of  the  Naval  Observatory  dates  from  the  founding  of  the  Ob- 
servatory in  1843.  It  is  a  collection  of  the  best  works  relating  to  astronomy,  mathe- 
matics and  geodesy,  and  numbers  13,000  volumes  and  3,000  pamphlets. 

lPozt=(£)ffiec  'Depapl'menl'. 

But  a  small  portion  of  the  library  of  the  Post-Office  Department  is  general  lit- 
erature. It  consists  of  public  documents  pertaining  to  the  duties  of  the  office,  and 
numbers  8,000  volumes. 

Inl^crior  'Deparl'meril'. 

The  Library  of  the  Interior  Department  was  begun  in  1850,  and  is  made  up  of 
miscellaneous  literature  for  the  use  of  Department  clerks.     It  has  10,500  volumes. 

The  Library  of  the  Bureau  of  Education  was  begun  in  1870,  and  contains 
books  and  journals  on  educational  topics,  and  school  reports  of  all  the  world,  to  the 
number  of  17,500  volumes. 

The  General  Land  Office  Library  contains  the  laws  and  documents  relating 
to  the  public  domain,  and  numbers  3,000  volumes. 

The  Columbia  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  has  a  collection  of 
works  relating  to  the  instruction  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  surpassed  by  only  one  other  in 
the  world.     It  numbers  4,000  volumes. 

The  Scientific  Library  of  the  Patent  Office  was  begun  in  1839,  and  contains 
a  very  fine  collection  of  works  in  all  departments  of  .science  and  all  reports  needed  for 
reference  in  determining  questions  concerning  inventions.     It  numbers  50,000  volumes. 

The  Library  of  the  GEOLOGICAL  Survey  is  not  yet  ten  years  old,  but  has 
already  a  practically  complete  collection  of  official  geological  reports  and  of  the 
standard  works  on  geology  and  its  cognate  subjects  to  the  number  of  30.000  volumes, 
40,000  pamphlets  and  22,000  maps. 

29 


'Dcpapt'menl'  of  Jusl^iee. 

The  Library  of  the  Department  of  Justice  was  begun  in  1853,  and  forms  an 
excellent  collection  of  American,  English,  Spanish-American  and  Roman  law  books. 
It  contains  20,000  volumes. 

The  Librar}'  of  the  Solicitor  of  the  Treasury  dates  from  1843,  and  is  made 
up  wholly  of  law  books  and  official  documents  for  reference  to  the  number  of  7,000 
volumes. 

T)epaptmenl'  of  Tilgrieull'ui'e. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  has  a  collection  of  works  on  agriculture  and 
natural  histor}^  and  their  kindred  branches,  to  the  number  of  24,000  volumes  and 
8,000  pamphlets. 

The  Library  of  the  Weather  Bureau  was  begun  in  187 1.  It  is  made  up  en- 
tirely of  books  on  meteorology,  telegraphy  and  cognate  subjects  to  the  number  of  12,000 
books  and  2,500  pamphlets. 

These  libraries  of  the  General  Government  contain  more  than  1,248,761  books 
and  228,225  pamphlets,  most  of  which  are  accessible  to  any  student  in  legitimate 
scientific  study. 

5oeiet'2   Ijibrariez. 

Among  important  libraries  not  governmental  should  be  noticed  the  following  : 
The  American  Medical  Association  L,ibrar\',  which  contains  7,000  volumes,  the 
Law  Library  of  the  Bar  Association,  which  numbers  7,000  books,  the  Library  of  the 
Supreme  Council  33°,  a  collection  especially  rich  in  works  of  history,  religion,  plril- 
osophy  and  folk-lore  to  the  number  of  15,000,  which  though  especially  intended  for 
and  free  to  all  masons  is  yet  accessible  to  ever}'  student  ;  the  Masonic  Library  of 
3,000  volumes  and  the  library  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  numbering 
2,000  books. 

School  Ibibrariez. 

Carroll  Institute  has  a  select  library  of  3,000  volumes  ;  Columbian  Univers- 
ity has  a  miscellaneous  collection  of  6,000  books  and  2,000  pamphlets  ;  Georgetown 
College  possesses  the  fine  Riggs  Library  of  35,000  volumes  and  of  very  broad  scope  ; 
Gonzaga  College  and  St.  John's  College  have  special  libraries  of  10,000  and  4,000  vol- 
umes respectively  ;  and  Howard  University  has  15,000  books,  among  which  are  some 
rare  Americana. 

A  general  table  of  Washington  libraries  is  here  given  : 

30 


tZIazhingt'on  liltapapiez. 

Hooks. 

Academy  of  the  Visitation,     -----  1,000 

American  Medical  Association.           -         -         -  7,000 

Bar  Association,             ------  7,000 

Bureau  of  Education — Gov't,     -         -         -         -  17,500 

Bureau  of  Medicine  and  Surgery — Gov't,        -         -  15,998 

Bureau  of  Ordnance  (Navy  Dept.) — Gov't,        -  3,000 

Bureau  of  Statistics  (Treas.  Dept.) — Gov't,    -         -  5,000 

Carroll  Institute,        ------  3,000 

Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey — Gov't,        -         -         -  8,000 

Columbia  Institution  for  Deaf  and  Dumb,           -  4,000 

Columbian  University,             -----  6,000 

Department  of  Agriculture — Gov't,            -         -  24,000 

Department  of  Justice — Gov't,        -         -         -         -  20,000 

Department  of  State — Gov't,     -         -         -         -  50,000 

Department  of  the  Interior — Gov't,        -          -         -  10,500 

District  of  Columbia — Gov't,     -         -         -         -  2,000 

Executive  Mansion — Gov't,           -         -         _         -  4,000 

General  L,and  Office — Gov't,     -         -         -         -  3,000 

Geological  Survey — Gov't,              .         -         -         -  30,000 

Georgetown  College,  (Riggs  I^ibrary),         -         -  35, 000 

Gonzaga  College,             ------  10,000 

Government  Hospital  for  the  Insane — Gov't,           -  2,480 

Health  Department,  D.  C. — Gov't,     -          -         -  2,000 

House  of  Representatives — Gov't,           -         -         -  125,000 

Howard  University,              -----  15,000 

Hydrographic  Office — Gov't,          .         -         -         -  3,000 

Library  of  Congress — -Gov't,        -         -         -         -  650,000 

Library  of  Supreme  Council  33°  southern  jurisdic- 
tion U.  S.  A.,       -         -         -         -         -         -  15,000 

Light  Battery  C,  3d  Artillery      -         -         -         -  2,000 

Light-House  Board  (Treas.  Dept.) — Gov't,    -         -  3, 496 

Marine  Hospital  Bureau — Gov't          -         -         -  1,500 

Masonic  Librar}-,              ------  3,000 

Nautical  Almanac  Office — Gov't,        -         -         -  1,600 

Naval  Observatory — Gov't,    -----  13,000 

Navy  Department — Gov't,           -         -         -         -  24,086 

Patent  Office  Scientific  Librar} — Gov't,          -         -  50,000 

Post-Office  Department — Gov't,           -         -         -  8,000 


raini)likl> 


6,500 

7,000 

2,000 
8,000 

3,000 


42,000 


2,000 
200,000 


1,000 


3,000 
1,000 


31 


Washington   liibmriez  ((Continued.) 


St.  John's  College, 

Senate — Gov't,  .         .         -         - 

Soldiers'   Home — Gov't, 

Solicitor  of  the  Treasury — Gov't, 

Surgeon  General's  Office,  U.  S.  Army 

Treasury  Department — Gov't,    - 

War  Department — Gov't, 

Weather  Bureau — Gov't, 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association.     ■ 

Total,  .         -         -         - 


-Gov't, 


Books. 

Pamphlets. 

4,000 

47,000 

5,632 

7,000 

101,969 

152,225 

18,000 

30,000 

12,000 

2,500 

2,000 

1,362,761 


230,225 


IPrivOitz  %ibpapicz. 

The  existence  of  this  vast  body  of  literature  in  the  city  has  naturally  operated 
against  the  formation  of  great  private  libraries  in  Washington,  but  there  are  neverthe- 
less some  worthy  of  notice. 

The  historical  library  of  the  late  George  Bancroft,  the  general  libraries  of 
Justice  Joseph  Bradley,  Justice  Horace  Gray,  Mr.  Henry  Adams,  Col.  John  Hay  and 
Mr.  John  G.  Nicolay,  the  musical  library  of  Mr.  Edward  Clarke,  the  Scotch  library  of 
Mr.  Wm.  R.  Smith,  the  library  of  Americana  of  Mr.  L.  A.  Brandenburg,  and  the  col- 
lection of  books  relating  to  the  civil  war  of  i86i-'65  which  Mr.  John  Davenport  has 
collected,  are  very  fine  in  their  cla.ss. 

One  of  the  interesting  collections  in  the  city  is  the  one  made  by  Mr.  Frederick 
Schneider  who,  in  the  intervals  of  a  life  as  an  iron  founder  and  dealer  in  hardware,  has 
through  correspondence  with  booksellers  of  Europe  collected  a  library  of  illustrated 
books,  from  the  Nuremburg  Chronicle  to  the  present  day,  which  contains  rarities  not 
in  the  great  libraries.  He  has  printed  an  annotated  catalogue  of  his  treasures,  setting 
the  type  and  doing  all  the  press-work,  etc.,  with  his  own  hand. 


32 


(Seneral  Informahon. 

A  Bureau  of  Information  will  be  .maintained  dnriug  the  sessions  of  tlie 
Congress  in  the  Colnnibian  University-,  where  some  one  will  be  in  constant  attend- 
ance. Programs,  circulars,  the  Washington  Directory,  railroad  guides  and  time- 
tables, etc.,  may  be  found  here.  Macfarlane's  Geological  Railway  Guide  and  local 
guide-books  to  Washington  may  be  purchased  at  the  bureau. 

The  Telcplionc  is  free  for  use  of  members  by  courtesy  of  S.  M.  Bryan,  President 
of  the  Chesapeake  and  Potomac  Telephone  Company.  The  District  Messenger  call 
may  be  used  for  messengers,  cabs,  etc.,  and  telegraph. 

There  will  be  a  temporary  Post-Office  in  the  building,  where  mail  for  members 
will  be  found.     Stamps  can  be  purchased  here,  and  the  Postal  Guide  consulted. 

Money  Exchajige. — Foreign  members  of  the  Congress  desiring  to  exchange 
foreign  currency  can  do  so  at  the  banking  house  of  Crane,  Parris  &  Co.,  No.  1344  F 
street  northwest.  Arrangements  will  also  be  completed  whereby  this  exchange  can  be 
made  at  the  office  of  the  Congress  in  the  Columbian  University. 


Beienl'ifie  2oeiel^ie2  Of  CTashingl'on. 

Philosophical  Society,         .  .  .  -  Organized  1S71. 

President  :  T.  C.   Mendenhall. 
Anthropological  Society,     -  -  -  -  Organized  1879. 

President  :   J.  C.  Welling. 
Biological  Society,  .  .  -  -  Organized  1880. 

President  :    C.  Hart  Merriam. 
Chemical  Society,  .  -  -  -  Organized  1S84. 

President  :   R.  B.  Warder. 
Microscopical  Society,         .  -  -  -  Organized  1884. 

President  :  Thomas  Taylor. 
Entomological  Society,        -  -  -  -  Organized  1884. 

President  :   George  Marx. 
National  Geographic  vSociety,         -  -  -  Organized  1888. 

President  :   Gardiner  G.  Hubbard. 

Women's  Anthropological  Society,  -  -  Organized  1885. 

President  :   Alice  C.  Fletcher. 

33 


V 


Offices  of  'Eoreign  ^cgal'ions.* 

t  Austria- Hungary  :   1537  I  street  northwest. 

Chevalier  de  Tavera,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 

t  Delgmm  :   1336  I  street  northwest. 

Mr.  Alfred  Le  Ghait,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 
France :   1901   F  street  northwest,  (two  squares  west  of  the  State,  War  and  Navy 
Building). 
Mr.  Theodore  Roustan,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 
t  Germany :  734  Fifteenth  street  northwest,  (opposite  the  Columbian  University). 

Count  Ludwig  von  Arco-Valley,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipo- 
tentiary. 
§  Great  Britain  :  Corner  Connecticut  avenue  and  N  street  northwest. 

Sir  Julian  Pauncefote,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 
t  Italy  :   729  Eighteenth  street  northwest. 

Marquis  Imperiali  di  Francavilla,  Charge  d' Affaires. 

t  Mexico  :   141 3  I  street  northwest. 

Senor  Don  Matias  Romero,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 

Netherlands  :  Office  of  the  Consulate-General  of  the  Netherlands,  New  York  City. 
Mr.  G.  de  Weckherlin,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 

§  Russia  :  1 705  K  street  northwest. 

Mr.  Alexandre  Greger,  Charge  d'Affaires. 
Spain  :   1400  Massachusetts  avenue  northwest. 

vSenor  Don  Miguel  Suarez  Guanes,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Pleni- 
potentiary. 
§  Sweden  and  Norivay  :  201 1  Q  street  northwest. 

Mr.  J.  A.  W.  Grip,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 

%  Switzerland :  2014  Hillyer  Place  northwest. 

Mr.  Alfred  de  Claparede,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 

eiubs. 

Cosmos  Club — H  street,  opposite  The  Arlington. 

Metropolitan  Club — Corner  of  Seventeenth  and  H  streets  northwest. 

University  Club — No.  1726  I  street  northwest. 

United  Service  Club — G  street,  near  Seventeenth  street  northwest. 

*  Onl)-  those  countries  are  given  from  which  members  are  in  attendance  at  the  Congress. 

Those  marked  t  are  within  three  squares  of  the  Cohunbian  Universit}-. 

Those  marked  ^  are  easily  reached  by  the  cars  passing  the  Columbian  University  on  H  street. 

34 


Hol'el  Seeommodat'ionz. 

Special  rates  have  been  secured  for  lueinbcrs  of  the  Congress  at  the  following  hotels,  which 
are  within  five  minutes'  walk  of  the  Columbian  University. 

Arlington  Hotel  (Headquarters) — On  Vermont  avenue  from  H  to  I  streets.  (American  plan). 
Regular  rate  fc  per  day  and  upwards,  according  to  accommodations.  A  reduction  of  one-third  of 
these  rates  will  be  allowed  to  members  of  the  Congress. 

The  Arno — On  Sixteenth  street,  between  I  and  K  streets.  (Kuropean  plan).  Rooms  at  %\ 
each  for  members  of  the  Congress,  including  use  of  the  hotel  baths.  Private  bath-rooms  %\  per  da}- 
extra.      Restaurant  and  cafe  in  the  hotel. 

Ehbitt  House — Corner  of  F  and  Fourteenth  streets.  (Americ.in  ])lan).  Adjoining  the  ofllccs 
of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  Regular  rates  14  per  day.  Rates  to  mcml)ers  of  the  Congress  |2.5() 
per  day  and  %\  extra  for  rooms  with  l)atli. 

The  Ehmcrc '-\\d$>  H  street,  between  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  streets.  Board  and  lodging 
for  members  of  the  Congress  at  fiio.so  per  week  during  the  meetings. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  to  provide  apartments  in  lodging-houses  for  such  as  may  desire 
them. 


T)pi'c?e2   THround    tnashington. 

The  Soldiers'  Home. — This  is  one  of  the  most  attractive  drives  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city.  The 
grounds  are  beautifully  laid  out  and  are  kept  up  as  a  park.  President  Lincoln  resided  here  in  the 
summer  during  his  administration.     It  is  three  miles  from  the  Arlington  Hotel. 

Arlington  and  Fort  Myer,  situated  on  Arlington  Heights,  overlooking  the  Potomac.  The 
former  was  the  home  of  George  Washington  Custis,  and  in  later  years  was  the  residence  of  General 
Robert  E-  Lee.  The  estate  was  sold  under  the  confiscation  act  of  1S63,  and  200  acres  set  apart  as  a 
National  Cemetery.  Over  16,000  soldiers  lie  buried  here.  General  Sheridan's  grave  is  but  a  short 
distance  from  the  house.  The  drive  is  through  Georgetown  and  over  the  Aqueduct  Bridge.  From 
the  portico  the  view  of  the  Potomac  Valley  is  exceptionally  fine  and  adds  much  to  the  pleasure  of 
the  drive.      Distance  from  Washington,  five  miles. 

An  attractive  drive  is  through  the  northwest  portions  of  the  city  to  the  Zoological  Park, 
thence  northward  to  the  country  in  and  adjacent  to  the  new  Rock  Creek  Park. 

Still  another  drive  is  to  follow  the  Conduit  Road  along  the  north  and  east  side  of  the  Potomac 
River  to  Glen  Echo  Heights  and  Cabin  John  Bridge.  The  bridge  is  a  magnificent  structure  spanning 
Cabin  John  Run  ;  it  is  20  feet  wide,  with  an  extreme  length  of  420  feet.  It  is  said  to  be  the  largest 
single  span  stone  arch  in  the  world.      At  the  hotel  near  the  bridge  one  can  obtain  a  good  dinner. 


R.    L.    Cooper,   No.    1335  H   street   northwest,   offers   the  following  special  reduced  rates   for 
carriages  to  members  of  the  Congress  : 

To  Soldiers'   Home  and  return,  I3. 

To  Arlington  and  Fort  Myer  and  return,  $/\. 

To  Cabin  John  Bridge  and  return,  fc. 

William  F.  Downey,  No.  1624  L  street  northwest,  and  B.  F.  McCaully  &  Co.,  No.  920  O  street 
northwest,  also  offer  reduced  rates  for  carriages. 

35 


"E^eupzions  in  I'he  lleighborhood  of  tCIashingl'on. 

illoiint  Vernon — the  former  residence  and  now  the  Tomb  of  Washington — situated  on  the 
Potomac  river,  ten  miles  below  the  Capitol,  is  easily  reached  by  steamer  which  leaves  daily,  except 
Sunday,  at  lo  a.  m.  The  boat  reaches  the  city  on  its  return  trip  at  2.20  p.  m.  Fare,  round  trip,  |i, 
including  admission  to  Mount  Vernon. 

Old  Point,  Fort  Monroe,  and  Virginia  Beach.  These  points,  on  the  Virginia  shore,  are 
reached  by  the  new  steamers  of  the  Washington  and  Norfolk  line,  which  leave  Washington  daily  at 
7  p.  m.,  passing  the  evening  and  night  on  the  Potomac  river  and  Chesapeake  bay,  arriving  at  Old 
Point  at  7  a.  m.  the  following  day.  Here  the  time  may  be  pleasantly  spent  in  visiting  the  Hygeia 
Hotel,  Fort  Monroe,  and  the  Soldiers'  Home  at  Hampton.  Those  remaining  on  the  steamer  reach 
Norfolk  at  8  a.  m.,  where  the  day  may  be  passed  in  visiting  the  city,  the  U.  S.  Navy  Yard  at  Ports- 
mouth, or  taking  a  short  trip  by  rail  to  Virginia  Beach,  on  the  Atlantic.  Returning  steamers  leave 
Norfolk  at  5  p.  m.,  Old  Point  at  6  p.  m.,  arriving  in  Washington  at  7  a.  m.  the  following  day.  Fare, 
round  trip,  I5.      Staterooms,  $1  and  ^2  each  way,  according  to  location. 

Luray  Cavern,  Virginia,  situated  about  one  mile  west  of  Luray  station,  on  the  Shenandoah 
Valley  Railroad,  and  sixty-five  miles  from  Washington,  is  reached  by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road, connecting  at  Shenandoah  Junction  for  Luray.  The  best  excursion  is  that  leaving  Washington 
from  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Depot  at  3.30  p.  m.,  arriving  at  Luray  at  7.45  p.  m.  Visit  the  Cavern 
that  evening,  after  supper  at  Luray  Inn.  Leave  Luray  the  following  day  at  7.10  a.  m.,  arriving  in 
Washington  about  11.45  a-  "i-  Those  wishing  to  see  Harper's  Ferry  and  vicinity  can  stop  over  and 
find  trains  to  Washington  at  3.06  p.  m.,  4.25  p.  m.  and  6.18  p.  m.  Fare,  Washington  to  Luray  and 
return,  15.50.     Admis.sion  to  the  Cavern,  |i.oo.     Board  at  Luray  Inn,  |;2.oo  and  I2.50  per  day. 


"E^eurzionz   after   the   (Congress. 

Members  of  the  Congress  will  have  received  the  Congress  Circular  giving  the  itinerary  of  the 
long  excursion  which  it  is  proposed  to  make  from  Washington  to  the  Yellowstone  Park,  Salt  Lake, 
Denver,  and  back  via  Chicago  and  Niagara  Falls  to  New  York,  starting  September  2d,  and  to  be 
en  route  twenty-five  days.      The  expense  of  this  trip  will  be  $265. 00  for  each  person. 

Another  excursion  contemplated  by  the  Congress  Committee  will  leave  Washington  Septem- 
ber 2d,  and  make  a  circuit  through  Pennsylvania,  via  Philadelphia,  Pottsville,  Wilkesbarre,  Harris- 
burg  and  Cresson,  visiting  the  Anthracite  basins,  and  localities  made  famous  by  Rogers  and  Lesley 
as  illustrating  Appalachian  stratigraphy,  structure  and  topography.  Glacial  phenomena  will  be  seen 
at  Berwick.  The  production  and  use  of  oil  and  gas  will  be  shown  at  Pittsburg.  From  Pittsburg 
the  party  will  pass  through  the  Connellsville  coke  region,  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  stopping  at  Luray 
Cave  ;  thence  down  the  New  river  gorge  to  Pocahontas,  and  to  Middleboro'  at  Cumberland  Gap  ; 
return  via  Knoxville,  across  the  Paloeozoic  of  Tennessee  and  the  Archaean  of  North  Carolina,  and  up 
the  coastal  plain  to  Washington.  The  carrying  out  of  this  plan  will  depend  upon  the  number  wish- 
ing to  make  the  trip.  Railroads  have  cordially  offered  reduced  rates,  and  mining  companies  oppor- 
tunities for  seeing  the  things  of  interest.  The  cost  will  probably  fall  below  |ioo,  and  sixteen  days 
will  be  required.      A  special  descriptive  circular  and  itinerary  will  be  issued. 

36 


Stpcclf  €ap  Ibincs. 

Street  car  fare,  5  cents,  or  6  tickets  for  25  cents.  Tickets  of  one  line  received  for  fare  on  all 
other  lines 

Transfer  tickets  can  be  obtained  at  points  of  intersection  of  lines  belonging  to  the  same  Com- 
pany.    (See  map.) 

The  green  cars  of  the  Metropolitan  Railroad  Company  passing  the  ColumV)ian  I'niversity  on  H 
street  go  west  to  Georgetown,  passing  the  Legation  of  Great  Britain,  and  near  those  of  Russia,  Sweden 
and  Norway,  and  Switzerland  (see  p.  34).  They  go  east  past  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  Patent 
Office,  Post-Office  Department,  Pension  Building,  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  depot,  the  Capitol,  and 
out  East  Capitol  street  one  mile  to  Lincoln  Park.  On  Ninth  street  is  another  line  belonging  to  this 
Company.  These  cars  go  north  beyond  the  city  limits  and  south  past  the  Baltimore  and  Potomac 
Railroad  depot  to  the  wharves  at  the  foot  of  Seventh  street. 

One  block  south  from  the  University  the  cars  of  the  Washington  and  Georgetown  Railroad 
Company  go  west  past  the  White  House  to  Georgetown,  and  south  past  the  Treasury  Department  to 
Pennsylvania  avenue,  thence  east  to  the  Capitol  and  Navy  Yard.  They  pass  near  the  depot  of  the 
Baltimore  and  Potomac  (Pennsylvania)  Railroad  on  Sixth  street.  By  transfer  to  the  cable  cars  on 
Seventh  street  one  can  go  north  to  the  city  limits  or  south  past  the  Fish  Commission  and  Army  Med- 
ical Museum  to  the  steamboat  w-harves  and  the  Arsenal  grounds. 

On  Fourteenth  street,  one  block  east  of  the  Columbian  University,  is  another  line  of  cars  of  the 
Washington  and  Georgetown  Railroad  Company.  These  go  north  to  the  city  limits,  while  southward 
they  join  the  main  line  at  the  Treasury  Department,  so  that  from,  this  point  to  the  Capitol  the  cars  of 
the  two  lines  alternate.  The  Fourteenth  street  cars  leave  Pennsylvania  avenue  at  the  foot  of  Capitol 
Hill  and  go  to  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  depot. 

Rates  of  Fare  for  Hacks,  Cabs  and  Other  Vehicles. 
(^Extract  from  Police  Regulations). 

Between  5  a.  m.     Befn   12.30  a.m. 
BY  THE   HOUR.  and  12.30  a.m.  and  5  a.m. 

For  one  passenger  or  two  passengers,  for  the  first  hour $0  75  |r  00 

For  each  additional  quarter  of  an  hour  or  part  thereof 20  25 

Provided,  That  for  multiples  of  one  hour  the  charge  shall  be  at  the 

rate  per  hour  of  75  i  00 

For  three  or  four  passenger,  for  the  first  hour i  00  i   25 

For  each  additional  quarter  of  an  hour  or  part  thereof 25  35 

Provided,  That  for  multiples  of  one  hour  the  charge  shall  be  at  the 

rate  per  hour  of  i  00  i  25 

BY  THE  TRIP. 

By  the  trip  of  fifteen  squares  or  less  for  each  passenger 25  40 

For  each  additional  five  squares  or  part  thereof  10  15 

Provided,  That  for  multiples  of  fifteen  squares  the  charge  shall  be 

at  the  rate  for  each  fifteen  squares  of  25  40 

Two-horse  hacks,  for  four  persons,  may  charge  I1.50  for  the  first  hour,  and  25  cents  additional 

for  each  extra  quarter  hour. 

Railroads. 

Baltimore  and  Potomac  (Pennsylvania)  Railroad,  "j 

Richmond  and  Danville  Railroad,  \  Depot  :  Corner  Sixth  and  B  streets  northwest. 

Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railroad,  J 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad— Depot :  Corner  New  Jersey  avenue  and  C  street  northwest. 

Z1 


%hc  (Seolog^  of  tdashingt'oij  and  *C>ieinil'2.* 

PACK 

The  General  Physiography,  .....--.-  38 

The  Local  Physiographj',  ....--.--  41 

The  General  Geology,  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -43 

The  Rocks  of  the  Piedmont  Plateau,  ..-.---  43 

Present  State  of  Knowledge,  .....---43 

The  Rocks  and  their  Relations,  ....--_  43 

The  Formations  of  the  Costal  Plain,      --------44 

Present  State  of  Knowledge,  -,-  -  -  -  --  44 

The  Formations  and  their  Relations,  -------46 

The  Geology  of  the  Appalachian  Zone,       -------  53 

Present  State  of  Knowledge,  -  -  -  -  -  -  --'53 

The  Origin  and  Relations  of  the  Rocks,  -  -  -  -  -  -  54 

The  Appalachian  Structure,  --------  55 

The  Local  Geology,  ----..---.  <:;6 

Cr3-stalline  Rocks  of  Washington,  -  -  -  -  --  -  56 

General  Features,  -.--.-_,-  56 

Leading  Rock  Types,  .........  ^j 

Clastic  F'ormations  of  Washington,  .-....-  tjg 

The  General  Structure,         -.--.-.-.5^ 
The  Columbia  Formation,  ----...--  60 

The  Lafayette  Formation,  .-------60 

The  Chesapeake  Formation,      --------  60 

The  Pamunkey  Formation,  -  -  -  -     ,        -  -  -  -  6r 

The  Severn  Formation,  --------  61 

The  Potomac  Formation,     -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  61 

Post-Columbia  Deposits,  --------  62 

Artificial,         -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  .  .  62 

The  Geomorphology,         --..-..---  62 


The  General  Physiography. 

There  are  in  eastern  Uniled  States  three  distinct  physiographic  provinces. 
Most  conspicuons  of  these  is  the  Appalachian  zone,  an  area  of  long,  low  mountain 
chains  of  wonderful  parallelism.  At  the  eastern  base  of  the  mountains  lies  the 
Piedmont  plateau,  an  undulating  plain  standing  500  to  1000  feet  above  sea  level. 
Between  this  plateau  and  the  ocean  lies  the  Coastal  Plain,  a  generally  smooth  lowland 
rising  gently  from  ocean  waters  to  altitudes  reaching  about  300  feet. 

The  rocks  of  the  Appalachian  zone  are  Paleozoic,  running  from  the  Carbon- 
iferous down  to  the  Cambrian  and  probably  to  the  Algonkian,  aggregating  25,000 
to  40,000  feet  in  thickness.     The  entire  series  is  nearly  or  quite  conformable  ;  the 

*  Prepared  by  w'j  McGee,  with  the  collaboration  of  Professor  G.  H.  Williams,  and  Messrs. 
N.  H.  Darton  and  Bailev  Willis. 

38 


materials  range  from  coal  seams  toward  the  summit,  and  pure  limestone  at  various 
horizons,  to  coarse  sandstones,  and  in  Pennsylvania  to  great  beds  of  conglomerate. 
The  strata,  originally  horizontal  or  slightly  inclined  westward,  have  been  deformed 
and  altered  in  a  variety  of  ways.  In  the  western  and  central  portions  of  the  jirovince 
they  have  been  flexed  symmetrically  and  thrown  into  a  series  of  anticlinal  and  syn- 
clinal corrugations,  seldom  more  than  a  mile  or  two  in  width  though  often  .scores  or 
even  hundreds  of  miles  in  length — a  series  of  mountain-folds  unparalleled  elsewhere 
on  the  globe  in  length,  symmetry,  and  concordance  in  direction.  In  the  central  part 
of  the  zone  the  symmetric-  flexing  is  combined  with  faulting,  and  in  many  cases  the 
faulting  is  of  that  overthrust  type  which  characterizes  the  Scottish  Highlands  and 
the  Canadian  Rocky  Mountains.  In  the  eastern  portion  of  the  zone  the  symmetric 
flexing  fails,  faulting  (both  normal  and  overthrust)  prevails,  and  the  rocks  are  more  or 
less  profoundly  metamorphosed — the  limestones  transformed  into  marbles,  the  shales 
into  .slates,  the  sands  into  qiiartzites.  Throughout  the  province  the  distinctive  struc- 
ture and  the  rock  compo.sition  are  both  reflected  in  topographic  configuration  ;  the 
prevailing  forms  are  long  narrow  ridges,  separated  by  long  and  generally  narrow 
valleys  ;  but  these  land  forms  represent  respectively  the  outcropping  edges  of  hard 
strata  and  soft  beds  rather  than  original  flexures. 

The  rocks  of  the  Piedmont  belt  are  more  or  less  crystalline,  chiefly  metamor- 
phic  schists  and  gneisses  of  considerable  diversity  in  composition,  but  sometimes 
including  ancient  eruptives,  as  well  as  quartz  veins  and  dikes.  The  structure  of  the 
province  is  obscure  and  diverse,  and  has  not  yet  been  fully  investigated.  It  is  known, 
however,  that  in  the  latitude  of  Washington  at  least  the  Piedmont  belt  is  .separable 
into  two  distinct  parts.  Of  these  the  western  is  composed  of  semi-crystalline  .slates, 
phyllites  and  schists  having  a  constant  inclination  toward  the  east ;  wdiile  the  eastern 
part  is  made  up,  except  for  a  few  included  folds  of  the  less  crystalline  rocks,  of  highly 
crystalline  gneis.ses  and  a  variety  of  foliated  eruptives,  all  of  which  have  a  prevailing 
dip  toward  the  west.  The  nearly  vertical  position  of  strata  intermediate  between 
these  extremes  gives  a  pseudo  fan-structure  to  a  section  of  the  Piedmont  plateau  in 
Maryland.  The  line  between  the  western  .semi-crystalline  and  the  eastern  gneissic 
areas  is  not  a  sharp  one  ;  and  there  is  an  apparent  progressive  increase  in  the  intensity 
of  metamorphism  from  the  western  border  to  the  eastern  limit  of  the  Piedmont  belt 
by  which  casual  students  have  been  misled.  The  surface  of  the  zone  is  characterized 
by  meandering  stream  channels  and  wandering  divides,  with  moderately  strong  local 
relief;  yet,  while  the  harder  rocks  of  the  province  find  a  certain  expre.ssion  in  the 
topography,  the  general  configuration  is  independent  of  rock  structure  Init  represents 
baselevel  conditions  during  past  eons. 

The  composition  and  configuration  of  the  Piedmont  zone  are  locally  diversified 
by  considerable  areas  of  Mcsozoic  rocks,  commonly  referred  to  the  Triassic.  These 
rocks  are  red  sandstones  and  red  or  purple  shales,  with  occasional  beds  of  couglomer- 

39  ■ 


ate.  They  are  characterized  b}'  strong  dips  toward  the  Appalachian  zone  ;  and  the}' 
are  frequently  cut  and  sometimes  interbedded  with  or  overlain  by  contemporaneous  or 
younger  dikes  and  sheets  of  trap.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  Coastal  plain  the  trap 
occurs  in  considerable  volume,  and  forms  prominent  ridges  by  which  the  topography 
of  the  entire  Piedmont  belt  is  dominated  ;  but  in  general  the  sandstones  and  shales 
are  soft  and  friable,  and  find  topographic  expression  in  low-lying  plains  and  basins. 

The  rocks  of  the  Coastal  plain  are  clastic,  ranging  in  age  from  Pleistocene  to 
middle  Mesozoic,  probably  reaching  a  total  thickness  of  2,500  to  3,500  feet.  The 
entire  series  inclines  gently  seaward,  the  inclination  increasing  from  the  new^er  to  the 
older  formations.  The  strata  are  manifestly  made  up  of  the  debris  of  the  Appalach- 
ian and  Piedmont  provinces,  are  rarely  lithified.  and  range  from  alluvium  or  alluvium- 
like silts  along  the  rivers  and  toward  the  coast,  and  glauconitic  marls  and  fine  clays  in 
the  middle  of  the  series,  to  coarse  gravels  and  beds  of  arkose  toward  the  base  and  near 
the  old  shorelines.  Except  for  the  gentle  inclination  of  the  strata,  and  except  for  a 
dislocation  coinciding  with  the  inland  margin  of  the  province,  the  strata  are  not  visibly 
deformed,  but  retain  substantially  the  attitudes  as  well  as  the  composition  of  original 
deposition.  The  surface  of  the  province  is  commonly  characterized  by  meandering 
rivers,  throughout  the  middle  Atlantic  slope  by  broad  estuaries,  and  in  general  by 
broad  low  divides,  often  terraciforra^the  configuration  seldom  expressing  structure  or 
localized  earth  movement,  but  representing  simple  erosion  combined  with  wave  action 
during  several  continental  oscillations  of  general  character. 

The  western  boundary  of  the  Appalachian  zone  is  indefinite  ;  the  characteristic 
corrugations  gradually  die  out  and  the  flexed  strata  of  the  Appalachian  pa.ss  into 
the  undisturbed  strata  of  the  interior  plain. 

The  common  boundary  of  the  Appalachians  and  the  Piedmont  zone  is  generally 
trenchant,  consisting  of  a  prominent  ridge  of  quartzite — the  Blue  ridge.  Somewhat 
south  of  the  latitude  of  Washington  the  ridge  is  simple  and  single  ;  where  cut  by  the 
Potomac  river  west  of  Washington  it  is  triple  or  quadruple  ;  in  Maryland  and  Pennsyl- 
vania it  is  frequently  multiple  ;  and  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  it  is  sometimes 
interrupted  and  again  divided  ;  but  in  general  it  definitely  marks  a  fairly  decided 
transition  from  comparatively  simple  to  comparatively  complex  structure,  and  from 
incipient  metamorphism  to  pronounced  alteration  in  the  rocks. 

Throughout  the  middle  Atlantic  slope  the  common  boundary  of  the  Piedmont 
zone  and  the  Coastal  plain  is  pronounced  ;  along  this  line  there  is  a  sudden  and 
decided  transition  in  the  rocks  from  highly  altered  crystallines  to  practically  unaltered 
elastics  ;  along  this  line  the  water-ways  change  from  narrow,  rock-bound  gorges  of 
considerable  declivity  to  broad  tidal  canals,  and  each  river  passes  from  the  one  prov- 
ince to  the  other  in  a  cascade  or  rapid  ;  along  this  line  the  rivers  are  diverted  from 
courses  cutting  across  the  trend  of  structure  and  athwart  the  provinces  to  courses  par- 
allel with  the  line  of  cascades,  thus  peninsulating  most  of  the  Coastal  plain  ;  and  along 

40 


the  line  thus  accentuated  by  the  diverted  draiuatie  tliere  is  conunonly  a  proniiiient 
scarp  of  Piedmont  rocks  overlooking  the  flat-lying  rocks  of  the  Coastal  plain.  This 
physiographic  boundary  is  one  of  the  most  trenchant  on  the  surface  of  the  globe,  and 
the  natural  line  is  emphasized  by  a  prominent  cultural  line  to  which  it  gave  origin  ;  all 
the  principal  cities  of  the  eastern  United  States  from  New  York  to  the  Carolinas  are 
located  along  this  natural  landmark. 

The  eastern  boundary  of  the  Coastal  plain  may  be  drawn  at  the  shore  of  the 
Atlantic  ;  but  it  may  more  properly  be  drawn  loo  miles  off  shore  at  the  great  sub- 
marine escarpment,  3,000  to  10,000  feet  high,  hugged  by  the  Gulf  Stream — in  general 
configuration,  in  inclination  of  the  surface,  and  unquestionably  in  structure  and  compo- 
sition, the  subaerial  and  the  submarine  portions  of  the  Coastal  plain  are  essentiall\-  a 
unit,  and  the  present  coast  line  is  but  an  accident  of  present  relation  between  sea  and 
land. 

Despite  the  diversit}-  in  rocks,  structure  and  configuration  in  the  three  prov- 
inces, the  principal  rivers  of  the  middle  Atlantic  slope  traverse  all  alike.  The  Mohawk 
and  the  Hudson  run  around  the  northeastern  extremity  of  the  typical  Appalachian 
zone,  separating  the  three  distinctive  provinces  from  the  analogous  (but  probably  not 
homologous)  physiographic  tract  of  New  England  ;  the  Delaware,  with  its  great 
secondarys,  the  lyehigh,  the  Susquehanna,  the  Potomac  and  the  James,  rise  well 
within  the  Appalachian  zone,  cut  through  the  successive  ridges  in  a  series  of  clefts, 
cross  directly  the  Piedmont  plateau,  and,  although  diverted  at  the  fall  line,  thence 
intersect  the  Coastal  plain  to  the  Atlantic  ;  and  except  at  the  fall  line  their  courses 
are  essentially  independent  of  structural  conditions.  Yet  even  along  the  great 
rivers  the  boundaries  of  the  physiographic  divisions  find  expression  :  The  Appa- 
lachian-Piedmont boundary  is  marked  by  narrow  notches  in  the  Blue  Ridge,  forming 
the  far-famed  "water  gaps"  of  the  Delaware,  of  the  Lehigh,  of  the  Susquehanna  near 
Harrisburg,  of  the  Potomac  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  of  the  James  at  Balcony  Falls  ; 
the  Piedmont-Coastal  boundary  is  still  more  strongly  marked  by  the  line  of  cascades 
on  every  river,  large  and  small,  from  the  Raritan  in  New  Jersey  to  the  Roanoke  in 
North  Carolina,  and  by  the  deflection  of  the  water-wa3^s  which  peninsulate  the  lowland 
plain  from  New  York  to  Richmond. 

The   Local   Physiography. 

The  City  of  Washington,  like  the  other  metropoles  of  the  middle  Atlantic  slope, 
is  located  at  the  common  boundary  of  the  Piedmont  and  Coastal  zones.  The  western 
part  of  the  city  is  built  on  the  ancient  crystallines,  the  eastern  on  the  non-lithified 
elastics  ;  though  outliers  of  the  clastic  formations  occasionally  occur  on  the  uplands 
some  miles  farther  westward.  Located  like  neighboring  metropoles  at  the  head  of 
navigation,  the  city  marks  the  position  of  the  fall  line.  At  Washington  the  Potomac 
river  is  tidal,  and  perhaps  half  a  mile  wide  ;  within  four  miles  up  stream  the  channel 

41 


contracts  at  ordinary  stages  to  barely  loo  feet,  changing  meantime  from  a  slack-water 
canal  into  a  rushing  torrent.  This  is  the  "  Little  Falls  of  the  Potomac."  Then  follow 
twelv^e  miles  of  nearly  continuous  rapids  to  the  "  Great  Falls  of  the  Potomac,"  where 
at  ordinary  stages  the  river  contracts  to  about  50  feet  and  descends  40  feet  in  a  suc- 
cession of  plunges  of  which  the  highest  is  about  15  feet.  Between  Great  Falls  and 
Washington  the  river  occupies  a  narrow  gorge  excavated  in  a  broader  one,  whose  bot- 
tom averages  150  feet  above  tide  ;  above  Great  Falls  the  river  wanders  over  the  bottom 
of  the  older  gorge. 

Just  west  of  the  city  the  embouchure  of  the  gorge  expands,  and  its  walls  merge 
into  the  general  Piedmont  scarp  overlooking  the  Coastal  lowland.  Just  east  of  the 
city  lies  Anacostia  river,  a  goodly  mill-stream  only,  clear  and  rapid  in  its  headwaters 
among  the  Piedmont  hills,  but  sluggish  and  marsh-bordered  for  the  last  five  miles  of 
its  course.  A  centur}^  ago  it  was  navigable,  and  trans- Atlantic  shipping  embarked 
and  debarked  at  Bladensburg  ;  but  now  it  is  clogged  with  alluvium  and  barely  navi- 
gable above  the  Washington  Navy  Yard.  Between  the  rivers  lies  a  triangular  amphi- 
theater, bounded  on  the  west  b}'  the  Piedmont  scarp,  on  the  north  by  a  terraciform 
upland,  on  the  east  and  southeast  by  low  bluffs  carved  out  of  Coastal  plain  deposits, 
and  opening  southward  through  the  Potomac  estuar3\  Most  of  this  amphitheater, 
together  with  the  upland  borders  toward  the  north  and  west,  is  occupied  by  the 
cit3\ 

Southwest  of  the  city  there  are  extensive  terraces,  evidently  wave  fashioned  but 
deeply  invaded  bj^  erosion  ;  north  of  the  city  the  upland  is  similarlj^  terraced,  though 
broad  and  deep  ravines  interrupt  the  continuity  of  the  plains  ;  and  beyond  the  Anacos- 
tia most  of  the  surface  represents  two  or  more  wave-fashioned  plains  which,  although 
deeply  scored  by  erosion,  sometimes  maintain  their  integrity  quite  to  the  verge  of  the 
river  bluffs.  The  Fort  Myer  upland,  southwest  of  the  city,  is  simply  the  scarp 
of  a  broad  terrace  ;  Kalorama  Heights  and  Columbia  Heights  toward  the  north- 
west are  the  salients  of  a  similar  terrace  ;  Good  Hope  Hill  on  the  southeast  is  a  rem- 
nant of  another  terrace  ;  the  bluff  on  which  the  National  Asylum  of  St.  Elizabeth  is 
located  is  the  scarp  of  a  lower  terrace  of  wonderful  horizontality  and  continuit\\  Far- 
ther westward  and  northward  the  surface  rises  in  less  regular  divides,  crests,  knobs  and 
spurs  ;  but  here  and  there  terrace  remnants  are  found  up  to  over  400  feet  above  tide, 
or  nearly  to  the  greatest  altitudes  of  the  region. 

The  terrace  plains  are  built ;  the  broad,  low,  wave-fashioned  plains  flooring  the 
amphitheater  are  compo.sed  of  the  newest  deposits  of  the  region  ;  the  higher  terraces 
carved  on  the  walls  of  the  amphitheater  are  of  earlier  yet  late  Tertiary  origin.  The 
smaller  ravines  as  well  as  artificial  excavations  reveal  the  materials  of  the  terraces  in 
hundreds  of  exposures  ;  the  larger  ravines  as  well  as  artificial  excavations  reveal  the 
clastic  formations  beneath  and  east  of  the  city  in  numberless  exposures  ;  the  Potomac 
river  and  its  larger  tributaries  are  bound  between  steep,  often  precipitous,  walls  of  the 

42 


crystalline  rocks.  The  entire  region  is  dissected  by  water-ways  and  by  a  niultilnde  of 
storm-cut  ravines,  and  so  the  local  relief  is  strong  except  toward  the  interiors  of  the 
broader  terraces. 

The  General  Geology. 

the  rocks  of  the  piedmont  pl.\teai:. 

Present  State  of  I\no7dcdgc. — Since  the  beginnings  of  American  geology  the  pre- 
vailing crystalline  character  of  the  Piedment  terrane  has  been  recognized,  and  the  rocks 
have  commonly  been  referred  to  the  Archean  and  frequently  correlated  on  petrographic 
ground  with  the  Huronian,  L,aurentian  and  other  ancient  rock  .systems  of  distant  parts 
of  the  country.  During  the  last  decade  Dr.  George  H.  Williams  began  systematic 
work  upon  Piedmont  rocks  in  the  vicinitj^  of  Baltimore  ;  more  recently  his  studies  have 
been  extended  westward  across  the  entire  zone  along  .several  lines  in  Maryland,  \'ir- 
ginia  and  North  Carolina.  The  more  important  results  of  these  researches  have  been 
published  by  the  Geological  Society  of  America.*  By  means  of  these  studies  the  pe- 
trographic character,  structure  and  relations  of  the  Piedmont  rocks  about  the  latitude 
of  the  National  Capital  have  been  made  known. 

The  Rocks  and  their  Relations.^ — -The  Piedmont  plateau  is  divisil:)le  into  an 
ea.stern  highly  crystalline  and  a  western  semi-crj'stalline  portion.  The  former  consists 
of  gneisses  and  holocrystalline  mica  schists,  quartzites  and  marble,  containing  an 
abundance  of  more  or  less  dynamically  metamorphosed  eruptive  mas.ses.  All  of  these 
rocks  have  a  prevailing  north-northeast  strike  and  a  westerly  dip.  The  western  por- 
tion, on  the  other  hand,  is  composed  of  partially  metamorphosed  sedimentary  strata 
(sericite  and  chlorite  schists,  ottrelite  schist,  phyllite  and  limestone)  and  is  nearly  free 
from  ancient  eruptives.  The  strike  of  these  rocks  conforms  to  that  of  the  eastern  por- 
tion, but  their  dips  are  prevailingly  toward  the  east.  In  spite  of  apparent  conformity 
and  even  indications  of  transitions  between  these  two  portions  of  the  Piedmont  region, 
they  are  separated  by  a  great  time-break  and  unconformity.  The  easterly  dips  on  the 
west  and  the  westerly  dips  on  the  east,  together  with  the  nearly  vertical  strata  between, 
produce  a  radiating  or  fan-structure,  and  the  axis  of  this  fan  is  not  coincident  with  the 
contact  between  the  crystalline  and  semi-crystalline  portions.  The  thickness  of  either 
series  of  rocks,  as  indicated  by  their  present  dips,  would  be  .so  vast  that  we  must  assume 
that  the  same  beds  are  repeated  over  and  over  again  by  tightly  compressed  folds  or 
thrusts.  In  the  absence  of  all  paleontologic  data  it  is  impossible  to  assign  a  definite 
age  to  either  of  these  .series.  In  the  light  of  wdiat  has  been  discovered  el.sewhere,  how- 
ever, it  is  not  improbable  that  the  western  and  semi-crystalline  areas  represent  the  older 
Paleozoic  horizons,  metamorphosed  by  more  intense  dynamic   action  than  has  affected 

*The   Petropraphy  and  Structure  of  the  Piedmont  Plateau    in    Maryland    Bull.   C.eol.  vSoc. 
Amer.,  vol.  2,  1890,  pages  301-322. 
t  Bv  George  H.  Williams. 

43 


them  farther  west,  while  the  holocrystalline  rocks  on  the  east  are  a  remnant  of  the  pre- 
Camhrian  continent,  from  which  the  Paleozoic  sediments  were  derived.  The  apparent 
conformity  betwen  the  two  regions  may  be  explained  by  supposing  that  the  highly 
crystalline  rocks  also  formed  the  floor  upon  which  the  now  semi-crystalline  schists  were 
deposited  as  sediments.  These  older  rocks,  already  greatly  altered  and  folded,  under- 
went at  the  time  of  the  Appalachian  uplift  one  more  final  folding,  which  gave  them 
their  now  prevailing  trend  and  carried  the  overlying  Paleozoic  sediments  with  them. 
This  supposition  is  also  in  accord  with  the  fact  that  several  closed  synclinals  of  slate 
and  semi-crystalline  schists  are  found  pinched  into  the  gneisses  far  to  the  east  of  the 
main  contact. 

The  Formations  of  the  Coastal  Plain. 

Present  State  of  Knozvledge. — Although  geologic  reconnaissance  was  extended 
over  the  portion  of  the  Coastal  plain  lying  in  the  middle  Atlantic  slope  early  in  the 
present  centurj-,  detailed  surveys  were  not  made  until  long  after.  So,  while  the  com- 
position, structure  and  age  of  the  deposits  were  known  in  general  terms,  little  was 
known  of  the  precise  limits  of  the  several  formations  or  of  the  geologic  history 
recorded  within  them  (particularly  about  the  National  Capital)  until  the  middle  of  the 
last  decade.  Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  present  Geological  Survey  systematic 
study  was  initiated  ;  within  the  next  three  years  certain  formations  were  discriminated 
and  classified,  and  the  methods  of  investigation  applicable  in  this  distinctive  if  not 
unique  geologic  province  were  developed.  Subsequently  detailed  surveys  were  under- 
taken, under  the  auspices  of  the  Geological  Survey,  by  Mr.  Nelson  H.  Dartou.  Cer- 
tain formations  were  by  him  discriminated  and  classified,  and  the  composition,  attitude 
and  precise  areal  distribution  of  the  formations  lying  between  the  Potomac  River  and 
Chesapeake  Bay  (the  "  western  shore"  of  Maryland)  as  well  in  much  of  "  tide-water 
Virginia"  were  ascertained.  The  areal  distribution  of  the  clastic  formations  devel- 
oped about  Washington,  as  determined  by  Mr.  Darton,  is  represented  on  an  accompa- 
nying map  ;  maps  of  other  portions  of  the  Coastal  plain  are  not  3'et  published. 

The  surveys  north  and  south  of  the  Potomac-Chesapeake  peninsula,  and  of  the 
peninsula  lying  east  of  Chesapeake  Bay  (the  "eastern  shore"  of  Maryland  and  Dela- 
ware) are  not  3'et  completed.  Accordingly,  while  the  formations  enumerated  below 
are  probably  representative  of  the  Coastal  plain  throughout  much  of  the  middle  Atlan- 
tic slope,  they  are  in  general  accurately  known  only  in  the.  immediate  vicinity  of 
Washington. 

In  the  researches  within  the  Coastal  plain  certain  methods,  developed  as  the 
work  progressed,  have  been  constantly  used  ;  and  since  these  methods  are  distinctive, 
and  since  moreover  they  affect  materially  the  results  of  the  work,  they  may  briefly 
be  stated  : 

44 


(t).  Reconnaissance  and  preliminary  surveys  showed  that  the  Coastal  plain 
deposits  are  commonly  thin  but  extensive,  and  each  composed  of  distinctive  materials, 
only  a  part  of  the  series  being  fossiliferous.  Moreover  the  Coastal  plain  is  vast, 
extending  over  fully  15°  of  latitude  and  25°  of  longitude,  and  including  the  deposits 
of  the  greatest  river  of  the  continent,  of  many  variously  conditioned  rivers  of  less  size, 
and  of  coasts  receiving  little  terrestrial  drainage  ;  from  which  it  was  inferred  that  the 
distribution  of  organisms  during  past  eons  was  affected  by  diverse  conditions  of  envir- 
onment, much  as  the  fauna  and  flora  of  the  present  are  affected.  Accordingly  it  was 
deemed  feasible  to  define  the  formations  by  composition,  attitude  and  physical  relations, 
and  to  trace  formations  from  place  to  place  throughout  the  province  by  means  of  strati- 
graphic  continuity,  independently  of  fossil  remains,  presumptively  varying  from  place 
to  place  with  the  varying  environmental  conditions  of  the  periods  of  deposition.  Thus 
the  formations  discriminated  in  the  Coastal  plain  are  essentially  physical  units. 

(2).  As  research  progressed,  it  was  found  that  in  many  cases  the  materials  of 
the  successive  Coastal  plain  deposits  maj^  be  traced  to  their  sources,  and  that  their 
character  and  distribution  indicate  the  proximity  of  shores,  the  depth  of  waters,  the 
positions  and  characteristics  of  sediment-bearing  rivers,  etc.  Thus  it  was  found  that 
each  formation  represents  a  certain  general  relation  between  sea  and  land,  the  recogni- 
tion of  which  easily  explained  local  variations  in  the  physical  condition  of  the  deposits  ; 
and  thus  the  tracing  of  the  formations  by  stratigraphic  continuity  was  facilitated  and 
extended.  So  each  Coastal  plain  formation  is  a  physical  unit,  and  at  the  same  time 
an  expression  of  the  general  physiography  of  the  continent  during  the  period  of  its 
deposition. 

(3).  As  researches  into  the  relations  of  land  and  sea  during  the  several  eons 
progressed,  it  was  found  that  in  many  cases  the  character  and  distribution  of  deposits 
composing  the  formations  indicate  not  only  the  position  and  size  of  sediment-bearing 
rivers,  but  the  declivities  and  other  conditions  of  those  rivers,  which  in  turn  indicate 
the  attitude,  altitude  and  general  configuration  of  the  land  .surface  during  the  period 
of  deposition.  It  was  also  found  that  in  many  cases  the  land-forms  themselves  record 
geologic  history  definitely  and  intelligibly  as  the  deposits  from  which  history  is  com- 
monly read  ;  and  accordingly  the  deposition-record  w'as  in  many  cases  supplemented 
by  the  degradation-record.  So,  many  of  the  Coastal  plain  formations  not  only  repre- 
sent general  physiographic  conditions,  but  yield  detailed  records  of  geography  and 
topography  during  the  periods  of  deposition. 

(4).  As  the  discrimination  of  successive  deposits  of  the  sea  and  of  the  variously 
superimposed  topographies  of  the  land  in  the  Coastal  plain  and  Piedmont  provinces 
progressed,  it  became  evident  that  any  local  tract  gives  a  record  of  a  certain  series  of 
physical  episodes,  each  of  definite  character,  and  that  recognition  of  the  conditions 
of  each  episode  facilitates  the  tracing  of  deposits  from  place  to  place,  even  throughout 
the  entire  Coastal  plain  and  far  wathin  the  contiguous  provinces  of    concurrent  degra- 

45 


dation.  Thus  it  was  found  feasible  not  only  to  correlate  formations  with  aspects  of 
the  land  in  each  tract,  ])ut  to  correlate  the  tracts  of  a  vast  area  by  means  of  genetic 
identity,  or  by  homogeu}-.*  So,  certain  of  the  Coastal  plain  formations  discriminated 
in  the  Atlantic  slope  represent  not  simple  records  of  local  physiographic  conditions, 
but  exact  indices  of  geographic  and  topographic  conditions  extending  over  a  considera- 
ble fraction  of  the  continent. 

For  these  reasons  the  taxonomy  of  the  Coastal  plain  formations  is  largely  inde- 
pendent of  the  paleontologic  scale.  Accordingly,  while  each  formation  is  known  to 
record  a  definite  episode  of  continental  history,  its  paleontologic  position  can  seldom 
be  indicated  with  accuracy  in  the  present  state  of  knowledge,  and  perhaps  cannot  be 
ascertained  until  researches  have  extended  over  the  entire  Coastal  plain,  and  until  the 
distribution  of  organisms  during  each  episode  in  Coastal  plain  development  is  deter- 
mined with  precision. 

The  Formations  and  their  Relations. — The  Clastic  formations  found  in  the  middle 
Atlantic  slope,  the  geologic  groups  to  which  they  are  provisionally  assigned,  the 
thickness,  attitude,  and  certain  other  characters  of  each,  the  history  indicated  b}-  their 
physical  relations,  together  with  the  approximate  paleontologic  position  of  each  episode 
(whether  of  deposition  or  degradation),  are  indicated  in  the  accompanying  table  ;  the 
distribution,  as  determined  by  Mr.  Darton,  being  shown  in  the   accompanying  map  : 

PALEONTOLOGIC 
FORMATION.  CHARACTERS.  POSITION. 

5    I   Alluvium Thickness  unknown  ;  chiefly  below  tide;  undisturbedt. ...  ;-  ■,         i     .      *" 

?;    I  >  J  >  I        j        2Lna  modern. 

5  -J     ^         Erosion  interval  ;  dissection  of  Columbia   Pleistocene. 

c    I    Columbia  Thickness  5-40  feet,  altitude  150  feet  ;  undisturbed Early  Pleistocene. 

'^    L  Erosion  interval  ;  extensive  invasion  of  Lafayette Pliocene  (?) 

-^  [Lafayette  Thickness  5-50  feet ;  altitude  500  feet ;  undisturbed Pliocene  (?) 

I  j  Erosion  inl^erval  ;  extensive  planing  of  Chesapeake Miocene  (?) 

,§  I    C//<'5«/>r^;'Xv....  Thickness  10-125  feet  ;  tilted  slightly;  fossiliferous   Miocene. 

'^  L  Erosion  interval ;  extensive  planing  of  Pamunkey  and  Severn  ? 

.-  r 

5    I   PamunJicy Thickness  3-100  feet  ;  tilted  slightly  ;  fossiliferous  Eocene. 

,^    1  Erosion  interval  ;  extensive  planing  of  Severn  and  Potomac ? 

til  1-  a 

a    I   Severn    Thickness  2-25  feet ;  tilted  seaward;  fossiliferous   Cretaceous. 

Erosion  interval  ;  profound  dissection  of  Potomac Cretaceous. 

Polo)nac Thickness  5-500  feet ;  considerably  tilted  ;  fossiliferous Early  Cretaceous. 

g    I  Long  interval  of  extensive  and  profound  erosion Jurassic  (?) 

*  American  Journal  of  Science,  third  series.  Vol.  XL,,  1890,  page  36. 

t  Except  by  a  late  Neocene  displacement  which  is  yet  in  progress  (c.  f.  7th  Ann.  Rep.  U.  vS. 
Geol.  Survey,  18S8). 

46 


There  is  a  notable  dearth  of  alluvimn  throui^hout  the  niicldle  Atlantic  slope  ; 
west  of  the  "  fall  line,"  which  is  not  only  the  connnon  boundary  of  two  strongly  dis- 
tinguished provinces  but  a  line  of  modern  dislocation  as  well,  the  land  is  rising  so 
rapidly  that  the  rivers,  albeit  rapid  and  generally  rushing  torrents,  are  unable  to  cut 
their  channels  down  to  baselevel  ;  east  of  the  "fall  line"  the  land  is  sinking  so 
rapidly  that  deposition  in  the  estuaries,  albeit  localized  and  rapid,  does  not  keep  pace 
with  the  sinking. 

Anterior  to  the  vaguel}^  limited  period  which  may  be  assigned  to  alluvium 
deposition  the  land  stood  higher  than  now,  for  the  antecedent  formations  are  deeply 
and  broadly  trenched  by  the  Potomac,  the  Anacostia,  and  other  Coastal  plain  rivers  ; 
but  whether  it  was  the  entire  region  or  only  the  now  sinking  Coastal  plain  that 
formerly  stood  higher  is  not  certainly  known.  It  seems  probable,  however,  that  both 
Piedmont  and  Coastal  provinces  were  elevated  after  Columbia  deposition,  that  both 
were  subsequent!}'  depressed  to  some  extent,  and  that  while  the  downward  movement 
of  the  Coastal  plain  continues,  the  movement  of  the  Piedmont  plateau  was  long  since 
reversed. 

The  Columbia  formation-^'  commonl}-  consists  of  brown  loam  or  brick  clay, 
grading  downward  into  a  bed  of  gravel  or  bowlders.  Toward  the  embouchures  of  the 
larger  rivers  from  their  Piedmont  gorges  the  loam  commonly  thins,  and  the  bowlder 
bed  thickens;  in  the  remoter  parts  of  the  estuarine  vallej-s  the  loam  thickens,  the 
bowlder  bed  thins,  the  materials  become  finer,  and  a  sand  bed  often  separates  loam  and 
gravel  ;  farther  down  the  estuaries  the  gravel  bed  commonly  disappears,  and  the  loam 
becomes  interstratified  and  sometimes  intermixed  with  silt.  Between  the  rivers  the 
deposit  extends  over  divides  up  to  altitudes  of  about  150  feet  in  the  latitude  of  Wash- 
ington, increasing  northward  and  decreasing  southward  ;  and  in  such  interstream 
areas  the  deposit  is  more  heterogeneous  than  along  the  rivers,  and  contains  a  consider- 
able element  of  materials  corresponding  with  those  of  the  immediate  subterrane.  As 
a  whole  the  deposit  evidently  represents  littoral  and  chiefly  estuarine  deposition. 
The  materials  differ  from  those  of  the  modern  alluvium  in  (i)  greater  dimensions  of 
the  bowlders,  (2)  greater  coarseness  of  sediments  in  general,  and,  (3)  less  complete 
trituration  and  lixiviation  of  the  several  elements.  These  differences  are  indicative  of 
long,  cold  winters,  heavy  snow-fall,  and  thick  ice,  but  not  of  glaciation  (in  this  latitude) 
during  the  Columbia  period. 

The  Columbia  formation  has  been  traced  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the 
Coastal  plain  from  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  to  beyond  the  Mississippi,  or  over  an 
area  of  more  than  200,000  square  miles,  its  thickness  and  composition  varying  from 
place  to  place  with  the  volumes  of  rivers  and  with  the  character  of  sediments  trans- 
ported by  them  ;  and  the  altitudes  of  occurrences  indicate  submergence   decreasing 

*  Defined  by  McGee  iu  18S5  ;  c.  f.  American  Journal  of  Science,  third  series,  Vol.  XXXV, 
iSSS,  page  125. 

47 


from  full}'  400  feet  in  the  latitude  of  New  York  to  150  feet  at  Washington,  and  perhaps 
75  feet  in  the  latitude  of  Cape  Hatteras,  thence  increasing  to  nearly  or  quite  700  feet 
on  the  Savannah,  diminishing  next  to  less  than  50  feet  at  Mobile  ba}',  and  again 
increasing  to  variable  maxima  farther  westward  and  northwestward. 

Traced  northward  the  formation  is  found  to  pass  under  the  terminal  moraine 
and  the  drift  sheet  it  fringes  ;  at  the  same  time  the  size  of  bowlders  and  other  indica- 
tions of  contemporaneous  cold  multipl}^  and  an  element  of  ice-ground  rock  flour  occurs 
in  the  upper  member,  from  which  it  was  long  inferred  to  represent  an  early  episode  of 
glaciation  ;  and  during  the  present  summer  Salisbury  has  found  it  to  pass  into  a  pre- 
morainal  drift-sheet  in  northern  New  Jersey.  From  the  relative  extent  of  erosion  and 
degree  of  oxidation,  the  Columbia  formation  and  the  corresponding  drift-sheet  are 
inferred  to  be  5  to  50  times  as  old  as  the  later  glacial  deposit,  and  a  rude  but  useful 
measure  of  the  duration  of  the  Pleistocene  is  thus  obtained. 

During  the  post-Columbia  period  the  inner  gorge  of  the  Potomac  river  from 
Washington  to  Great  Falls  was  excavated.  Anterior  to  the  Columbia  period  the  land 
stood  so  high  at  Washington  and  northward  that  the  antecedent  Lafayette  formation 
was  profoundly  eroded — indeed,  north  of  the  Potomac  river  only  isolated  remnants  of 
the  ]vafa5^ette  persist ;  but  further  southward  the  high  level  diminished  to  such  extent 
that  the  L,afayette  formation  maintains  its  continuity  over  wide  areas.  This  period  of 
erosion  was  long,  yet  not  so  long  as  to  permit  planation — deep  and  broad  caiions  were 
carved,  to  be  subsequently  converted  into  estuaries  ;  ravines  were  deepened  and  slopes 
steepened,  and  much  of  the  Lafayette  formation  was  degraded  ;  yet  the  interstream 
areas  were  not  reduced  to  baselevel. 

The  Lafa5-ette  formation  ^^  commonly  consists  of  well-rounded,  quartzitic  gravel, 
more  or  less  abundantly  imbedded  in  a  matrix  of  red  or  orange-tinted  loam,  the  gravel 
elements  predominating  in  the  northwesternmost  exposures,  and  the  loam  predominat- 
ing toward  the  interior  of  the  Coastal  plain.  The  pebbles  are  evidently  derived  from 
earlier  members  of  the  elastics  ;  the  loam  is  derived  in  part  from  the  same  formation  but 
in  probably  larger  part  from  the  residua  of  the  Piedmont  crystallines.  The  deposits 
differ  from  those  of  the  younger  Columbia  formation  in  that  the  pebbles  are  finer,  more 
completely  water-worn,  and  more  largely  quartzitic  ( the  Columbia  alone  containing 
bowlders  and  abundant  pebbles  of  the  local  and  sub-local  Piedmont  crystallines)  ;  and 
they  may  be  discriminated  from  the  older  Potomac  deposits  by  the  smaller  size  and 
better  rounding  of  the  pebbles,  and  by  the  dearth  of  arkose  (which  is  abundant  in  the 
earlier  formation),  as  well  as  by  a  number  of  less  striking  characters. 


*  Described  by  SafFord  in  1856  [Geologic  Reconnaissance  of  Tennessee,  pp.  148,  162]  and  by 
Hilgard  in  i860  [Geology  and  Agriculture  of  Mississippi,  p.  3]  under  the  name  of  Orange  Sand  ; 
described  by  McGee  in  1888  [American  Journal  of  vScience,  third  series,  vol.  XXXV,  p.  328]  under 
the  name  Appomattox  ;  formally  named  Lafayette  from  original  records  (  of  1855-56  )  by  Hilgard  in 
1891  [American  Geol.,  vol.  VIII,  p.  129]. 


The  Lafayette  formation,  like  the  Cohinibia,  has  been  recognized  througliout 
most  of  the  Coastal  plain  except  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  micklle  Atlantic  slope, 
in  the  Mississippi  valleys  and  in  a  number  of  more  restricted  areas  from  which  it  has 
been  degraded.  Its  composition  varies  from  place  to  place  in  such  manner  as  to  indi- 
cate the  local  sources  of  material  and  conditions  of  deposition  ;  yet  despite  this  local 
diversity  it  is  marvellously  uniform  throughout  the  200,000  square  miles  over  which  it 
has  been  recognized^ — indeed,  though  the  youngest  member  of  the  clastic  series,  this 
formation  is  at  the  same  time  more  extensive  and  more  constant  in  aspect  than  any 
other  American  formation. 

The  Lafayette  formation  overlaps  unconformably  all  the  older  members  of  the 
Coastal  plain  series  in  such  manner  as  to  indicate  that  all  were  extensivelj-  degraded 
anterior  to  its  deposition  ;  yet  the  floor  on  which  the  formation  rests  is  more  uniform 
than  its  owm  upper  surface,  indicating  that,  while  the  antecedent  erosion  period  was 
long,  the  land  stood  low,  so  that  it  was  planed  nearly  to  baselevel  and  seldom  deeply 
trenched.  During  the  post-Lafayette  elevation,  on  the  contrarj-,  the  land  was  deeply 
trenched  and  not  planed,  indicating  a  higher  altitude  than  during  the  earlier  eon,  but 
a  shorter  period  of  stream  work.  This  record  within  the  Coastal  plain  proper  coincides 
wdth  a  geomorphic  record  found  in  the  Piedmont  and  Appalachian  zones.  Throughout 
these  zones  the  major  and  most  of  the  minor  rivers  flow  in  broad  and  deep  yet  steep- 
sided  gorges  excavated  in  a  baselevel  plain.  The  Potomac  gorge  belonging  to  this 
category  extends  from  Washington  well  toward  the  sources  of  the  river  ;  it  is  within 
this  gorge  that  the  newer  Washington-Great  Falls  caiion  is  excavated  ;  the  same  ancient 
gorge  is  admirably  displayed  at  Great  Falls,  and  again  at  the  confluence  of  the  Shenan- 
doah at  Harper's  Ferry.  Moreover  the  ancient  gorges  of  this  category  are  best  devel- 
oped in  the  northern  part  of  the  middle  Atlantic  slope,  wdiere  the  Lafayette  formation 
is  most  extensively  degraded.  Now,  by  the  concordance  of  history  thus  recorded  in 
plain  and  plateau,  the  degradation  epochs  of  the  adjacent  provinces  may  be  correlated 
and  the  ancient  gorges  of  the  Piedmont  plateau  and  of  the  Appalachian  zone  as  well  may 
be  referred  to  the  period  of  high  level  immediatel}'  following  Lafayette  depo.sition. 
While  the  positive  evidence  for  this  correlation  is  hardly  conclusive,  the  negative 
evidence  is  more  decisive — the  Coastal  plain  deposits  yield  no  other  record  of  continent 
movement  of  sufficient  amplitude  and  extent  to  account  for  this  wide-spread  topo- 
graphic feature. 

Accepting  the  correlation,  some  conception  of  the  relative  antiquity  of  the 
Columbia  and  Lafayette  periods  may  be  formed  :  In  general,  post-Lafayette  and  pre- 
Columbia  erosion  was  sufficient  to  remove  fully  half  of  the  earlier  formation  through- 
out its  vast  extent,  and  to  trench  it  and  the  older  formations  beneath,  along  the  present 
shore  lines  of  Atlantic  and  Gulf,  to  depths  ranging  from  150  or  200  up  to  600  or  800 
feet,  or  to  effect  from  50  to  5000  times  the  degradation  of  the  post-Columbia  ])eriod. 
Again,  the  post-Lafayette  gorges  of  the  Piedmont  and  Appalachian  zones  exceed  the 

49 


post-Columbia  gorges  excavated  by  the  same  rivers  in  the  crystalline  rocks  certainly 
not  less  than  500  times,  and  perhaps  more  than  5000  times.  Moreover,  if  the  correla- 
tion be  accepted,  the  immense  cailons  of  the  middle  Atlantic  slope  which,  albeit  more 
than  half  filled  by  later  deposits,  yet  accommodate  great  estuaries,  must  be  referred  to 
the  post-Lafayette  high-level,  and  the  P3^gmy  submarine  trenches^  of  the  Atlantic 
coast  *  must  be  referred  chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  to  the  post-Columbia  high-level  ;  in 
which  case  the  relative  erosion  measures  are  many  thousands  to  one.  It  is  indeed 
known  from  the  steepness  of  wall  of  the  Piedmont  and  Appalachian  gorges  that  the 
excavation  was  effected  rapidly,  and  hence'  that  the  land  stood  high  above  baselevel  for 
a  relatively  limited  period  only — a  period  exceedingly  short  in  comparison  with  the 
antecedent  period  of  baseleveling  ;  and  accordingly  that  the  post-Lafayette  high-level 
may  not  have  persisted,  and  probably  did  not  persist,  to  the  beginning  of  the  Columbia 
period.  Yet  however  the  several  variables  be  evaluated,  it  is  manifest  that  the  pre- 
Columbia  and  post-Lafayette  degradation  interval  must  have  been  many  times  longer 
than  the  interval  of  degradation  following  the  Columbia  period.  The  relative  antiquity 
of  the  Columbia  and  Lafayette  formations  thus  indicated  is  shown  graphically  in  the 
accompanying  figure  i . 


Neocene 

Fl^i 

'ocrno 

Base/cvf^                 Lafayt^te 

PieUnuuit AppaZfirhian   Ocrgr-cutUr^ 

OiwTlia/h/lhn 

eOvyc'CaMit^ivnUn 



Pr^S^tal 

J 

2                       3      ♦ 

/ 

->.          / 

v^ 

=^ -=v^ 

V_/                ,£» 

rly  gUzaal  2lru 

.^lac. 

i    ZLat^ 

^la<7i^U    ■l-I\jaAjl.tu.ial 

j-y^.  I. 

Beneath  the  Lafayette  formation  lies  the  Chesapeake,!  a  heavy  bed  of  fine  sands 
and  clay,  sometimes  containing  more  or  less  abundant  glauconite  and  infusorial  remains 
and  characteristic  Miocene  fossils.  This  distinctive  bed  is  the  most  extensively 
developed  member  of  the  Coastal  plain  series  on  the  "western  shore"  of  Maryland. 
Although  the  faunas  of  the  inferior  and  superior  portions  are  somewhat  diverse,  the 
materials  of  the  formation  are  essentially  alike  from  base  to  summit,  and  the  faunas 
intergrade  in  such  manner  that  it  is  impracticable  to  divide  the  deposits  on  this  ground, 
at  least  in  the  latitude  of  the  National  Capital.  Although  the  formation  undoubtedly 
extends  eastward  to  the  ocean  and  both  northward  and  southward  for  scores  or  hun- 
dreds of  miles,  the  deposits  have  not  been  actually  traced  much  beyond  Delaware  Bay 
on  the  north  and  James  river  on  the  south. 

Except  as  modified  by  the  displacement  coinciding  with  the  "fall  line,''  the 
newer  deposits  .sensibly  maintain  the  attitudes  of  original  deposition  ;  but  the  Chesa- 
peake and  older  formations  are  slightly  deformed.     This  deformation,  best  displayed 


*  Recently  described  by  Lindenkohl  ;  Amer.  Jour.  Sci.,  Vol.  XL,I,    iSgi,  pp.  489  to  499. 
t  Defined  by  Darton,  Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.  Vol.  II,  1890,  p.  443. 

50 


by  the  surface  configuration,  is  displayed  also  by  the  Chesapeake  formation  ;  it  con- 
sists of  a  slight  inclination  toward  the  fall  line  from  an  axis  approximateh-  parallel 
with  and  4  or  5  miles  distant  from  thai  boundary,  together  with  a  somewhat  more 
decided  seaward  inclination  beyond. 

The  Chesapeake  formation  is  separated  from  the  Lafayette  above  and  the 
Pamunkey  below  by  strong  unconformities,  each  recording  considerable  degradation 
of  the  underlying  formations  ;  but  in  both  cases  the  inequalities  in  contact  are  com- 
parativel}'  gentle,  indicating  wide-spread  planing  rather  than  restricted  trenching  ; 
from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  degradation  period  was  long  but  that  tlie  land 
stood  near  baselevel.  This  deposition  record  of  the  Coastal  plain  has  Ijeen  correlated 
only  in  a  general  way  with  the  degradation  record  of  the  Piedmont  province  ;  in  the 
latter  province  the  extensive  ancient  base-level  undoubtedly  corresponds  to  several 
successive  periods  of  Mesozoic  and  Cenozoic  deposition  and  interruption  of  deposition 
in  the  Coastal  plain,  of  which  the  Chesapeake  period  was  one. 

The  Pamunkey  formation  *  consists  of  a  homogeneous  sheet  of  sand  (commonly 
glauconitic)  and  clay,  with  occasional  calcareous  layers  ;  and  it  commonly  abounds  in 
characteristic  Eocene  fossils.  L,ike  the  Chesapeake  it  lies  in  a  gentle  anticlinal,  its 
western  margin  inclining  landward,  and  the  great  body  inclining  seaward. 

Although  it  has  not  been  actually  traced  on  the  ground  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  "western  shore"  in  Maryland,  and  "tide-water"  Virginia,  there  are  good  reasons 
for  believing  that  the  Pamunkey  formation  extends  throughout  nearly  all  of  the 
Coastal  plain  in  the  middle  Atlantic  slope,  and  probably  stretches  thence  .southward 
with  unbroken  continuity  until  it  merges  with  the  calcareous  liocene  series  of  the 
eastern  Gulf  slope. 

The  unconformity  .separating  the  Pamunkey  from  subjacent  formations  is  of 
the  planation  type,  and  thus  tell,  of  a  long  degradation  period  during  which  the  land 
was  little  elevated  above  baselevel.  In  general  terms  this  degradation  period  may  be 
correlated  with  the  baselevel  period  of  the  plateau  and  the  mountains  ;  but  there  are 
some  indications  that  the  lifting  of  the  land  was  greater  in  the  south  than  in  the  north. 

The  Severn  formation  f  commonly  consi.sts  of  fine  black,  micaceous  and  carbon- 
aceous sands,  sometimes  glauconitic,  rather  poorly  fossiliferous,  the  organic  remains 
being  of  characteristic  Cretaceous  facies.  Southward  from  the  National  Capital  the 
formation  thins  and  soon  fails  ;  northward  it  thickens  and  expands,  undoubtedly  pa.ss- 
ing  into  the  extensive  glauconitic  Cretaceous  beds  of  New  Jersey.  Whether  the  atten- 
uation southward  is  due  to  non-deposition,  to  extensive  degradation  in  this  direction, 
or  to  both  combined,  has  not  yet  been  determined.  The  formation  inclines  .seaward 
gently,  yet  more  steeply  than  the  Pamunkey  ;  its  extension  beyond   the  gentle  anti- 

*  Defined  by  Dartou  ;  Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  A,ni.,  vol.  2,  1S90,  p.  439. 
t  Defined  by  Dartou  ;  Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  vol.  2,  1S90,  p.  438. 

51 


clinal  axis  parallel  with  the  fall  line  is  too  slight  to  give  decisive  indication  of  the 
usual  landward  dip  of  this  part  of  the  province. 

The  floor  upon  which  the  Severn  formation  rests  is  more  uneven  than  its  newer 
homologues,  indicating  not  only  extensive  planation  but  decided  trenching,  and  there- 
fore may  be  inferred  to  represent  long-continued  degradation  of  land  standing  consid- 
erably above  baselevel  ;  yet  the  land  record  of  this  episode  is  lost  in  the  remoteness 
of  the  period  and  the  feebleness  of  the  record. 

The  basal  formation  of  the  Coastal  plain  series  (the  Potomac  *)  outcrops  along 
the  '•  fall  line  "  from  the  Delaware  to  the  James  as  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  sand,  clay, 
arkose  and  quartzitic  or  quartzic  gravel.  The  arkose  unquestionably  represents  the 
neighboring  Piedmont  crystallines  ;  the  quartzite  is  evidently  derived  from  the  exten- 
sive Paleozoic  bed  forming  the  Blue  Ridge  ;  the  quartz  represents  the  veins  by  which 
the  Piedmont  crystallines  are  frequently  intersected.  The  more  obdurate  materials  are 
not,  however,  confined  to  the  Potomac  formation  in  which  they  were  originally  de- 
posited ;  they  have  been  re-arrranged  and  incorporated  with  the  Lafayette,  the  Colum- 
bia and  probably  the  Chesapeake  formations,  and  have  been  accumulated  in  modern 
taluses  and  torrential  deposits.  Moreover,  since  the  advent  of  the  white  man  the  peb- 
bles and  cobbles  have  been  cpllected  for  paving  and  guttering  ;  and  before  his  era  they 
were  extensively  used  by  the  aborigines  for  the  manufacture  of  rude  implements.  Al- 
though not  fossiliferous  in  the  District  of  Columbia  so  far  as  known,  the  Potomac 
formation  has  yielded  a  remarkable  fauna  and  a  wonderfully  rich  and  interesting  flora. 
The  faunal  remains,  collected  principally  between  Baltimore  and  Washington,  com- 
prise dinosaurian  bones  of  unique  species  but,  according  to  Marsh,  strong  Jurassic 
affinities  ;  the  flora,  obtained  chiefly  from  Virginia,  has  been  monographed  by  Fon- 
taine, by  whom  it  is  regarded  of  Cretaceous  facies  and  probably  equivalent  to  the 
Cenomanian  of  Europe,  though  Ward  deems  it  somewhat  older. 

The  Potomac  formation  has  been  traced  southward  along  the  "  fall  line  "  in 
isolated  exposures  across  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  to  reappear  in  considerable  volume 
in  Alabama,  where  it  is  designated  the  Tuscaloosa  formation.!  It  has  also  been  traced 
northward  through  Maryland  and  Delaware,  and  has  been  recognized  in  New  Jersey. 

The  Potomac  formation  rests  unconformably  on  the  Piedmont  crystallines,  filling 
steep  sided  and  narrow  gorges  at  low  levels,  overspreading  the  moderately  undulating 
plains  at  high  levels.  The  ancient  configuration  revealed  by  this  unconformity  com- 
prises an  extensive  Piedmont  peneplain,  half  reduced  to  baselevel  and  afterward 
deeply  trenched  by  the  water-ways,  much  as  the  smoother  baselevel  surface  of  later 
times  was  trenched  during  the  post-Lafayette  high-level.  The  duration  of  the  pre- 
Potomac  degradation  period  was  vast :  At  the  close  of  the  Paleozoic  the  eastern 
United  States  was  extensively  deformed,  uplifted  and  eroded,  until  many  thousand  feet 


*  Defined  by  McGee  in  1885  ;  c.  f.  7tli  Annual  Report  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  1888,  p.  546. 
t  Bull.  43,  Geol.  Survey,  1888. 


52 


of  the  surface  was  carried  into  the  sea  ;  then  came  the  Newark  or  Triassic  period  of 
local  deposition,  which  was  followed  in  turn  by  extensive  deformation,  the  faulting 
amounting  probably  to  many  thousands  of  feet ;  and  then  followed  comparative  (]nie- 
tude  until  not  only  the  chainiels  of  the  water-ways,  but  the  entire  surface  over  some 
hundred  thousand  square  miles  was  approximately  baseleveled,  undoubtedly  by  the 
degradation  of  thousands  of  feet  of  rock  beds. 

This  sub-Potomac  unconformity  gives  some  indication  of  the  relative  position  of 
the  Potomac  formation  in  the  Meso/.oic  period  as  well  as  of  the  relative  duration  of  the 
several  Coastal  plain  periods  of  deposition  and  degradation.  Let  post-Columbia  erosion 
represent  unity  ;  then  post-Lafayette  degradation  may  be  represented  by  looo,  and  the 
post-Potomac  and  pre-Lafayette  baselevel  period  may  be  represented  by  100,000  ;  then, 
using  the  same  scale,  the  post-Newa^rk  and  pre-Potomac  erosion  must  be  measured  by 
something  like  10,000,000,  and  the  post-Carboniferous  and  pre-Newark  degradation  Ijy 
20,000,000  or  50,000,000.  These  figures  are  but  rude  approximations  ;  they  are  more- 
over in  one  sense  misleading,  since  degradation  undoubtedly  proceeded  much  more 
rapidly  during  the  earlier  eons  ;  j'et  they  give  some  conception  of  the  relative  import- 
ance of  a  long  series  of  episodes  in  continent  growth,  and  indicate  definitively  the  wide 
separation  of  the  Newark  and  Potomac  periods. 


PUilmont  Appeilacluan  Baaeifvt*t 


Present  Sea-ierel 


K  y 


Fig. 


The  time  relations  between  the  post-Potomac  formations  are  represented  graph- 
ically in  the  above  figure  2.  The  intervals  are  of  course  only  rudely  approximate, 
yet  they  stand  for  estimates,  not  guesses. 

THE    GEOLOGY    OF   THE   APPALACHIAN    ZONE. 

Present  State  of  Knozcledgc. — The  general  features  of  this  province  were  long  ago 
made  known  by  the  classic  work  of  the  Rogers  Brothers  in  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  ; 
but  since  the  expansion  of  the  field  of  geologic  science  during  recent  years  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  survey  in  greater  detail  much  of  the  area  already  once  or  twice  tra- 
versed. The  Federal  surveys  of  the  southern  and  central  Appalachians  were  for  .some 
years  in  charge  of  Mr.  G.  K.  Gilbert,  and  more  recentl\  have  been  carried  on  by  Mr. 
Bailey  Willis.  One  of  the  results  of  this  work  has  been  to  raise  questions  as  to  the 
validity  of  the  early  correlation  of  the  central  Appalachian  series  with  that  of  New  York, 
except  in  a  general  way — the  great  groups  of  New  York  are  indeed  known  to  occur 
throughout  the  Appalachian  province,  yet  the  minor  subdivisions  with  their  distinctive 

53 


faunas  are  found  to  undergo  modification  of  such  character  and  extent  as  to  indicate 
that  identity  in  each  particular  case  can  be  determined  only  by  more  extended  and  de- 
tailed studies  than  have  thus  far  been  made.  Another  result  has  been  the  discrimina- 
tion and  delimitation  of  certain  well-defined  formations  in  Virginia,  West  Virginia, 
Maryland,  Tennessee,  North  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Alabama  ;  but  the  rocks  of  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  province  remain  to  be  classified  in  accordance  with  the  modern 
method.  For  the  present  it  will  sufiice  to  say  that  an  essentially  complete  American 
Paleozoic  series  of  rocks  is  represented  in  the  province. 

The  Origin  a7id  Relations  of  the  Rocks. "^ — The  Appalachian  Paleozoic  province 
is  characterized  by  the  occurrence  of  sediments  deposited  in  the  Mediterranean  sea  of 
North  America,  which  existed  during  the  lapse  of  time  from  the  early  Cambrian  to  the 
close  of  the  Carboniferous  period.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  and  east  by  ancient 
crystalline  rocks,  the  bases  of  a  great  mountain  system,  now  deeply  eroded,  and  the 
remains  of  a  continent  whose  former  extent  is  only  to  be  inferred  from  the  enormous 
volume  of  .sediments  it  yielded  to  the  Paleozoic  sea  ;  and  on  the  south  and  west,  Me.so- 
zoic  and  Cenozoic  deposits  limit  our  observation  of  the  older  strata. 

The  history  of  subsidence  and  uplift  of  erosion  and  sedimentation  may  be  sum- 
marized as  follows  : 

Cambrian  :  The  invasion  of  the  sea,  which  began  the  known  deposits  of 
Cambrian  strata  along  the  Appalachian  crystalline  area,  found  a  continent  mantled  in 
the  products  of  rock  disintegration.!  These  materials,  ea.sily  swept  away,  produced 
a  mass  of  fine  sandstones  and  .shales,  and  near  the  source  they  retained  fragments  of 
feldspar,  hornblende,  and  other  minerals,  which  gave  rise  to  transition  beds  between 
the  clearl}'  crystalline  and  the  clearly  sedimentary  rocks.  Limestones  formed  where 
the  mechanical  debris  was  not  too  abundant,  and  the  result  is  a  complex  of  deposits 
measuring  7,000  feet  and  more  in  thickness.  The  uppermost  member  is  the  Potsdam, 
a  sandstone  in  its  typical  locality,  elsewhere  a  shale  or  a  limestone  carrying  the  char- 
acteristic upper  Cambrian  fossils.  J 

Lower  Silurian  :  This  period  is  divided  into  two  epochs,  separated  by  an  inter- 
val of  erosion  of  the  earlier  member.  The  conditions  of  deposition  continue  generally 
unchanged  from  Cambrian  into  Silurian  time,  the  principal  result  being  a  great  thick- 
ness of  chert-bearing  dolomite.  This  formation  is  the  mo.st  widespread,  the  most 
uniform  and  the  most  massive  of  all  the  Paleozoic  series.  From  Massachu.setts  and 
New  York  to  Alabama,  and  westward  under  the  Mississippi  valley,  it  is  everywhere 
the  great  limestone  member  of  the  stratigraphic  column.  It  is  usually  3,000  to  4,000 
feet  thick.     This  phase   of  deposition   was  closed  by  an  uplift,  which   permitted  the 

*  By  Bailey  Willis. 

t  Pumpelly,  R.,  "Secular  Rock  Disintegration,   etc."     Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  Vol.  II. 

X  WalcoU,  C.  D.,  Cambrian  Faunas,  Bull.  30,  U.  vS.  Geol.  Survey. 

54 


formation  of  wave-wroii.c^ht  conq;lomerates  and  sea-cliff  debris  from  the  limestone  alon^ 
the  coast  line  in  Tennessee  and  in  Massachnselts,  and  jirohably  thron<;h()Ul  the  entire 
interval  where  detailed  search  has  not  been  made.  This  brings  us  alxjut  to  the  close 
of  the  New  York  Trenton  formation. 

The  second  epoch  began  with  the  tran.sgression  of  the  sea,  and  continued  until 
the  coast  line  of  the  Camlirian  ocean  had  been  submerged.  The  conditions  of  the 
source  of  sediments  were  precisely  like  those  that  existed  during  the  Cand)rian,  and  a 
very  similar  series  of  conglomerates  and  sandstones  were  formed.  The  submergence  of 
the  land  was  deeper  than  any  that  preceded  or  followed  it  ;  sediments  to  a  depth  of 
1,200  feet  accumulated  locally  and  thinned  out  westward  to  a  few  hundred  feet.  Al)out 
Cincinnati  they  are  represented  by  the  highly  fossiliferous  shales  and  limestones  of  that 
name. 

Upper  Silurian  :  The  preceding  period  closed  with  an  uplift,  which  is  possibly 
contemporaneous  with  the  unconformity  locally  evident  in  the  northeastern  province. 
The  first  deposit  of  the  Upper  Silurian  is  a  widespread  sandstone,  of  peculiarly  clean 
character,  followed  by  the  ferruginous  shales  of  the  Clinton  formation,  which  contain 
the  important  fossil  iron  ores.  The  later  history  of  the  period  is  recorded  in  limestones, 
the  Niagara,  Salina  and  Helderberg,  which  are  best  represented  in  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania and  Ohio,  and  thin  out  or  disappear  southward. 

Devonian  :  In  the  Oriskany  calcareous  sandstone,  followed  l)y  the  Corniferous 
limestone  in  New  York,  we  have  a  lithologically  variable  horizon,  which  contains 
fossils  of  both  Upper  Silurian  and  Devonian  types,  and  marks  the  transition  from  con- 
ditions favoring  the  deposit  of  impure  limestones  of  the  Silurian  to  the  great  subsidence 
under  the  load  of  mud  and  sand  deposited  over  New  York,  Penn.sylvania  and  Virginia 
during  the  Devonian.  The  lowest  member  of  this  series  is  a  highl}^  bituminous  shale, 
the  most  persistent  of  all  Paleozoic  formations  except  the  great  limestone,  although  in 
Tennessee  and  Alabama  it  is  often  not  over  20  feet  thick.  In  Pennsylvania  it  exceeds 
500  feet,  and  in  New  York  the  formation  reaches  1,200  feet.  Above  these  dark  shales 
follow  greenish  argillaceous  sandstones,  succeeded  by  red  shales  and  sandstones.  The 
total  thickness  of  these  mechanical  deposits  exceeds  8,000  feet  in  northern  Virginia, 
but  they  thin  out  rapidly  southward,  and  are  not  clearlj^  recognized  in  Tennessee. 

Carboniferous  :  The  mechanical  sediments  of  the  Devonian  are  overlain  by  beds 
of  limestone,  which  are  sometimes  .slialy,  sometimes  massive  and  chert-bearing.  Above 
these  are  the  sandstones  and  conglomerates  at  the  base  of  the  coal  measures,  deposits 
of  coarse  materials  spread  over  a  vast  area  during  a  single  epoch.  Then  ensued  the 
conditions  of  alternating  sea  and  marsh,  which  built  up  to  a  thickness  of  3,000  to  4,000 
feet  the  mass  of  sandy  shales,  shales,  limestones  and  coal  beds  of  the  Appalachian  coal 

field. 

Tiic  Appalarliian  Strudurc'^'—W.  has  long  been  the  assumiition  that  the  deforma- 
tion of  Paleozoic  sediments  in  the  Appalachian  province  took  place  at  the  close  of  the 

*  By  Bailey  Willis. 

55 


Carboniferous  period.  That  certainly  was  the  time  of  greatest  development  of  folds 
and  faults,  but  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  there  were  initial  disturbances  as 
far  back  as  the  Trenton  period.  The  forms  of  structure  called  "Appalachian,"  and 
often  referred  to  as  a  single  type,  differ  greatly  in  different  regions.  But  they  are  all 
manifestations  of  one  phase  of  deformation,  namely,  compression.  A  belt  of  strata  ex- 
tending along  the  old  shore  line  from  Canada  to  Alabama  has  been  narrowed  in  a 
direction  perpendicular  to  that  shore  by  a  reduction  to  five-sixths  or  four-fifths  of  its 
undisturbed  width.  This  compression,  which  probably  went  on  at  several  epochs  dur- 
ing the  Paleozoic  age,  raised  long  narrow  a'rches  with  intermediate  troughs  (anticlines 
and  synclines),  and  in  some  localities  pressed  these  folds  till  they  closed  upon  them- 
selves. The  force  also  produced  movements  (faults)  along  planes  of  weakness  devel- 
oped in  the  folding  mass,  movements  which  sheared  across  strata  opposed  to  them  in 
such  a  way  as  to  slide  older  and  deeply  buried  formations  over  the  edges  of  younger 
deposits.  Thus  a  geologic  map  of  the  Appalachian  province  usually  represents  many 
narrow  parallel  belts  of  strata  in  some  regions,  such  as  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia, 
winding  around  alternating  anticlinal  and  synclinal  axes  ;  in  other  districts,  such  as 
Tennessee,  extending  for  scores  of  miles  adjacent  to  a  continuous  fault  line. 

The  history  of  Mesozoic  and  Cenozoic  time  is  recorded  in  the  Paleozoic  province 
in  geographic  forms,  in  mountains,  baselevel  plains  and  river  systems.  What  we  have 
thus  far  read  of  this  history  is  explained  elsewhere. 

The  L,ocal  Geology, 
crystalline  rocks  of  washington.* 

General  Features. — The  entire  area  covered  by  the  Washington  atlas-sheet  is 
composed  of  the  crystalline  rocks  of  the  Piedmont  plateau.  These  are,  however,  con- 
cealed in  the  eastern  and  southern  portions  of  this  area  by  the  comparatively  thin 
covering  of  Coastal  plain  deposits,  from  whose  irregular  and  sinuous  western  edge  they 
emerge  to  form  the  surface.  Satisfactory  exposures  of  these  rocks  are  to  be  found  only 
in  the  deep  ravines  cut  by  the  streams  (e.  g.  the  Potomac  and  Rock  Creek  or  their 
tributaries),  since  at  the  surface  of  the  plateau  their  character  has  been  obscured  or 
obliterated  by  extensive  superficial  decay  and  by  cultivation. 

The  older  rocks  of  the  Washington  sheet  belong  entirely  to  the  eastern  or  holo- 
crystalline  portion  of  the  plateau  province,  as  already  described.  They  are  for  the  most 
part  granitoid  gneisses  of  varying  composition,  which  grade  into  wholly  massive 
varieties  of  probably  eruptive  origin  on  the  one  hand,  while  they  retain  occasional 
evidence  of  clastic  origin  (obscure  conglomeratic  layers)  on  the  other.  Toward  the 
west,  as  displayed  along  the  Potomac  .section,  which  is  nearly  transverse  to  their 
strike,  these  rocks  become  somewhat  more  foliated  and  schistose  as  they  approach  the 


By  George  H.  Williams. 

56 


boundary  of  the  western  or  semi-crystalline  area  which  ]\asses  near  Great  IviUs  in  the 
extreme  northwestern  corner  of  the  sheet.  There  are  also  much  fartlier  east  occasional 
bands  of  very  schistose  rock  (notably  those  seen  aloni^  Broad  Hrancli)  which  pass 
indiscriminately  from  one  formation  to  another,  and  which  owe  their  present  character 
to  unusually  intense  dynamic  action. 

The  final  period  of  orogenic  disturbance  which  inijiarted  to  the  entire  Piedmont 
plateau,  in  common  with  the  Appalachian  system,  its  present  structure,  ga\'e  to  the 
crN'stalline  rocks  within  the  Washington  sheet  a  north-south  strike.  The  occasional 
faint  evidences  of  original  bedding  that  have  survived  within  this  area  seem  now  to 
accord  closely  with  the  foliation  which  has  been  developed  in  all  the  rocks,  igneous 
and  clastic  alike,  during  the  extreme  metamorphism  to  which  they  have  l)een  sub- 
jected. This  is  a  dip  almost  constantly  to  the  west  within  the  entire  area,  and  growing 
more  and  more  steep  toward  the  west,  in  accordance  with  the  general  structure  of  the 
Piedmont  plateau,  as  explained  in  a  preceding  section.  Only  in  the  extreme  north- 
western corner  of  the  sheet,  near  Great  Falls,  do  the  rocks  begin  to  incline  very 
steeply  toward  the  east. 

*  Leading  Rock   Types. — A  partial  examination  (still  in  progress)  of  the  crystal- 

line formations  within  the  the  limits  of  the  Washington  sheet  has  brought  to  light  the 
following  easily  distinguishable  rock  types,  which  are  provisionally  enumerated, 
although  it  is  probable  that  further  study  will  both  modify  and  enlarge  the  list. 

Granite,  Granite-Gneiss  and  Gneiss  ;  Ouart/.-Orthoclase-Mica  Rocks  :  This  is 
by  far  the  most  extensively  developed  of  all  the  crystalline  formations  of  the  area  in 
question.  It  embraces  undoubtedly  eruptive  granite,  secondarily  foliated  (squeezed) 
granite,  and  typical  gneiss,  probably  metamorphosed  sediments.  On  account  of  their 
close  lithological  resemblance,  decayed  condition,  and  concealed  contacts,  these  rocks 
cannot  however  at  present  be  accurately  subdivided  on  the  map.  Hence  they  are  rep- 
resented by  a  single  color.  Toward  the  ea.st,  notably  along  Sligo  and  Piney  branches, 
the.se  rocks  are  very  massive,  often  quite  devoid  of  any  foliation,  and  are  not  infre- 
quently filled  with  inclusions  of  other  rocks  in  which  characteristic  granite  contact 
minerals  are  largely  developed.  All  this  points  to  an  eruptive  origin,  and  these  char- 
acters persist  even  where  a  secondary  foliation  has  been  developed  in  accord  with  the 
prevailing  strike  and  dip.  Farther  westward  the  rocks  appear  more  like  typical 
gneisses,  being  banded,  more  micaceous  and  more  schisto.se.  Apparent  beds  of  con- 
glomerate have  also  been  noticed  in  them  along  the  south  bank  of  the  Potomac  river, 
and  near  the  Klingle  F'ord  bridge  over  Rock  Creek. 

Diorite  :  Ma.ssive,  dark  green  amphibole-biotite-granite. — These  rocks  present 
a  marked  contrast  to  the  last  type  in  their  dark  color.  They  always  contain  green 
hornblende,  Inotite,  orthocla.se  and  plagioclase,  .sometimes  one  and  .sometimes  the  other 
in  excess.  Ouartz  is  also  usually  present  and  not  infrequently  rutile,  sphene  and 
epidote  as  well.     Under  the  microscope   they  generally  show  evidence  of  profound 

57 


dynamic  action.  In  all  probability  they  represent  ancient  ernptive  masses  which  have 
been  subsequently  greatly  changed  and  recrystallized  by  earth-movements.  They  are 
most  extensively  developed  around  Georgetown  and  near  Cabin  John.  In  quarries  at 
the  former  place  clearl}^  defined  inckisions  of  other  rocks  have  been  noticed,  which 
substantiate  the  theory  of  their  eruptive  origin. 

Serpentine  and  Steatite  :  A  few  small  lenticular  areas  of  serpentine  and  soap- 
stone  occur  within  the  area  under  consideration.  They  are  usuall}^  closely  associated 
with  the  more  basic  hornlilendic  rocks,  and  are,  probably,  like  these  of  eruptive  origin, 
although  this  hypothesis  cannot  as  yet  be  considered  as  definitely  proved. 

Gabbro  :  Two  small  elongated  exposures,  presumably  dikes,  of  trap-like  rocks, 
which  the  microscope  shows  to  be  in  all  respects  identical  with  the  Baltimore  hj-pers- 
thene-gabbro,*  occur  near  West  Falls  Church  station,  but  have  been  as  yet  noticed 
nowhere  else  within  the  Washington  region. 

Broad  Branch  Schists  :  On  the  road  leading  northward  from  the  Pierce  Mill  road 
along  Broad  Branch,  a  narrow  band  of  thinly  foliated  sericitic,  chloritic  and  siliceous 
.schists  is  exposed.  These  rocks  differ  considerably  in  character  and  appearance  from 
those  about  them,  but  still  they  grade  imperceptibly  into  the  granite  and  gneiss  which 
lie  both  on  their  eastern  and  western  sides.  The  belt,  although  quite  narrow,  has  a 
considerable  extent  from  north  to  south  in  the  direction  of  its  strike.  Under  the  micro- 
scope all  of  these  schists  show  evidence  of  the  most  extreme  dynamic  action.  Their 
distinguishing  characters  (mineralogical  compo.sition,  foliation,  etc.)  are  clearly  second- 
ary ;  and  they  may  readily  have  been  produced  by  an  unusual  amount  of  compres.sion 
brought  to  bear  on  the  normal  material  of  the  granite  or  gneiss,  This  schist  belt  is 
therefore  probabl}^  the  result  of  extraordinary  pressure  at  the  axis  of  a  clo.sed  synclinal 
fold,  rather  than  the  product  of  metamorphism  of  beds  originally  distinct  from  tho.se 
around  them. 

Siliceous  Gneisses  and  vSchists  of  Great  Falls  :  The  barrier  at  the  Great  Falls 
of  the  Potomac  is  an  unusualh-  siliceous,  and  therefore  unusually  hard,  band  in  the 
gneiss.  In  some  places  this  rock  is  so  siliceous  that  it  contains  hardly  anything 
except  quartz  and  mica,  and  thus  becomes  a  quartz  schist.  It  exhibits  throughout 
definite  microscopic  evidence  of  having  been  .subjected  to  great  pressure. 

In  spite  of  the  considerable  variet)-  shown  by  this  list,  the  cry.stalline  rocks  near 
Washington  are  much  more  uniform  and  monotonous  than  those  forming  the  eastern 
part  of  the  Piedmont  plateau  farther  northward.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with 
the  eruptives.  The  ga.bbros  and  gabbro-diorites,  so  abundant  near  Baltimore,!  in 
Harford  County,  Maryland,  and  in  northern  Delaware,!  are  represented  by  only  one 

*  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  No  28. 

t  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  No.  28,  by  George  H.  Williams. 

t  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  No.  59,  1)y  F.  D.  Chester. 

58 


I 


very  insignificant  occnrrence  near  Falls  Cluircli,  Virginia,  on  the  Wasliinglon  sheet; 
while  the  varions  peridolites,  pyroxenites  and  derived  rocks  =i'  are  altogetlier  absent. 

Granitic  rocks  are  largely  developed  near  Washington,  and  many  of  them  pre- 
serve, both  in  their  massive  character  and  inclnded  fragments,  fair  evidence  of  erui)tive 
origin.  Nevertheless  even  these  are  far  inferior  in  petrographic  variety  and  interest 
to  the  undoubtedly  intrusive  granites,  granite-porphyries  and  felsites  occurring  farther 
northward  in  Maryland. 

CLASTIC    FORMATIONS    OF   WASHINGTON.! 

The  General  Structure. — In  the  vicinity  of  Wa.shington  the  formations  of  the 
Coastal  plain  series  are  extensively  displayed,  and  all  the  principal  members  are 
characteristically  developed.  The  general  structural  relations  are  illustrated  in  the 
accompanying  figure  3. 


Fig.  3. — General  cross-section  through  the  central  portion  of  the  Washington  atlas-sheet. 

The  Potomac  formation  lies  on  the  .steeply-sloping  surface  of  the  crystalline 
rocks,  and  is  overlain  by  the  gently  eastward-dipping  Severn,  Pamunkey  and  Chesa- 
peake formations  in  regular  succession,  upward  and  eastward.  The  I.afayette  forma- 
tion caps  the  higher  plains  and  the  Columbia  formation  occupies  the  lower  terraces. 
The  regular  sticcession  is  interrupted  locally  in  the  ridge  east  of  Washington  where 
the  Pamunkey  formation  overlaps  the  Severn  for  a  few  miles,  and  is  in  turn  overlapped 
by  Chesapeake  beds  which  lie  directly  on  the  Potomac  formation  in  small  outliers 
north  and  west  of  Washington.  The.se  formations  also  thicken  seaward,  each  with 
slightly  increased  rate  from  below  ujnvard,  and  their  .separating  planes  of  unconformity 
incline  gently  eastward.  The  Lafayette  formation  lies  across  the  planed  surfaces  of 
the  successive  formations  from  the  ciystallines  westward  to  the  Chesajieake  formation 
eastward.  The  Columbia  formation  lies  on  terraces  cut  in  the  crystallines  and  in  the 
Potomac,  Severn,  Pamunkey  and  Chesapeake  formations  from  tide  level  to  about  150 
feet  above. 

A  line  of  dislocation  extends  from  northeast  to  southwest  acro.ss  the  western 
half  of  the  Washington  atlas-sheet.  The  downthrow  is  on  the  eastern  side  and 
amounts  to  from  50  to  100  feet.  This  fault  traverses  the  I.,afayette  and  Potomac  form- 
ations and  the  crystalline  rocks,  and  in  the  divides  its  presence  is  marked  by  an  escarp- 
ment of  crystalline    rocks,  usually  capped    by  Potomac  and   Lafayette  deposits.      The 


*  Am.  Geo!.,  July,  1890. 
tBy  N.  H.  Darton. 

59 


date  of  the  movement  was  mainl}^  between  the  Lafayette  and  ColumlMa,  but  apparently 
some  movement  has  taken  place  since  the  deposition  of  the  Columbia. 

The  Columbia  Fonnatio7i .—The  lower  terraces  of  the  Potomac  valley  and  its 
larger  branches  and  the  valley  of  the  Western  Branch  of  the  Patuxent  are  occupied 
by  the  Columbia  formation  up  to  altitudes  varying  from  80  to  145  feet.  About  the 
city  or  Washington  the  more  general  Columbia  terrace  levels  are  at  40  and  80  feet 
respectively  above  tide  ;  the  Capitol  being  situated  on  the  western  edge  of  a  prominent 
outlier  of  the  80-foot  terrace.  The  formation  exhibits  its  typical  development  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  where  it  consists  of  two  members  ;  a  lower  series  of  gravels  and 
an  overlying  brown  or  buff  loam.  The  gravels  are  heterogeneous  in  character,  com- 
prising remains  of  the  more  obdurate  material  of  preceding  formations,  in  large  part  of 
local  origin.  The  loams  are  often  quite  pure,  but  they  are  frequently  intermixed  with 
sand  and  pebblj'  streaks  and  disseminated  pcl)bles.  vSouthward  from  Washington  the 
Columbia  terraces  border  the  Potomac  river  to  widths  of  from  one  to  two  miles,  and  the 
materials  as  a  whole  become  finer.  In  the  Anacostia  valley  the  formation  consists 
mainl}^  of  brown  sands  with  pebbly  streaks,  but  at  Washington  these  sands  merge  into 
the  loams  and  gravels  of  the  typical  phase.  Along  the  northern  side  of  the  Washing- 
ton-Great Falls  gorge  of  the  Potomac  there  is  a  narrow  shelf  at  145  above  tide, 
which  is  capped  at  intervals  by  Columbia  loams  and  gravels.  The  thickness  of  the 
Columbia  formation  about  Wa.shington  averages  from  20  to  30  feet. 

The  Lafayette  Formation. — This  formation  occupies  portions  of  the  wide,  high 
plains  surrounding  the  Washington  amphitheater,  especially  toward  the  south  and 
southeast.  Its  materials  are  mainly  gravels  and  loams.  The  basal  and  marginal  beds 
are  in  larger  part  gravels,  usually  stained  buff  or  orange,  superficially,  and  packed 
tightly  in  stiff  loams  and  sharp  sands.  The  upper  beds  are  predominantly  loamy,  and 
farther  eastward  loams  and  fine  sands  with  gravel  streaks  prevail.  In  the  outliers 
north  and  west  of  Washington  the  formation  consists  of  gravelly  red  loams.  The  plain 
on  which  the  Lafayette  formation  was  deposited  is  depressed  by  a  wide  shallow  basin 
in  which  is  excavated  the  present  Potomac  valley  below  Washington.  This  old  basin 
gives  rise  to  a  series  of  lower  Lafa^'ette  terraces  adjoining  the  Potomac  valley,  the  prin- 
cipal area  of  which  is  in  the  vicinity  of  the  St.  Elizabeth  Asylum,  where  its  elevation 
is  160  to  180  feet.  The  Lafayette  formation  extends  for  some  distance  west  of  the 
"  fall  line  "  fault  in  a  series  of  outliers,  usually  with  underlying  remnants  of  the 
Potomac. 

The  Chesapeake  Formation. — This  formation  underlies  the  high  plains  southeast 
of  Washington,  where  it  is  overlain  by  a  capping  of  the  Lafayette  formation  over  the 
greater  part  of  its  area.  The  formation  extends  to  the  edge  of  the  high  bluffs  east  of 
Washington,  and  also  is  caught  in  small  outliers  of  the  higher  terrace-levels  at  Soldiers' 
Home  Park,  and  between  West  Washington  and  Tennallytown.  The  formation  con- 
sist of  very  fine  grained  materials,  mainly  sands,  with  a  variable  proportion  of  infusorial 

60 


remains  and  chi}-.  In  llieir  unwentlicrcd  condition  tlic  beds  are  nsnally  very  compact, 
dark  gray  to  olive-green  in  color,  and  massively  ])cdded.  vSurface  ontcrops  consist  of 
soft  meal-like  sands  of  light  bnfF  color.  Some  clay  beds  occur,  notably  locally  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  District.  Infusorial  remains  are  nearly  everywhere  present,  and 
faint  casts  of  molluscan  remains  are  generally  abundant  in  the  unweathered  material. 
The  outliers  in  the  ridges  about  Wa.shington  consist  of  buff-colored,  meal-like  1)eds, 
lying  on  an  irregular  surface  of  the  Potomac  sands,  and  in  turn  overlain  by  Lafayette 
gravels.  The  thickness  of  the  formation  increases  gradually  eastward  and  is  about  125 
feet  in  the  Marlborough  region. 

The  Pamunkcy  Forviation. — The  raniunkey  formation  occupies  a  wide  area  east 
of  Washington,  and  is  a  conspicuous  member  of  the  Coastal  plain  scries  in  this  region. 
In  its  unweathered  condition  the  formation  is  mainly  a  bluish  or  greenish-l)lack  marl, 
consisting  of  fine-grained  quartz  sands  mixed  with  varying  amounts  of  organic  matter 
and  clay,  and  usually  containing  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  mineral  glauconite. 
On  weathering  the  glauconite  is  decomposed,  and  its  iron  constituent  oxidizes  and 
stains  the  sands  to  a  dull  red  brown  or  snuff  color.  The  weathered  phase  is  general 
on  the  surface  in -the  regions  in  which  the  formation  has  long  been  bared  of  overlying 
formations.  In  the  streams  leading  out  of  the  high  plains  east  of  Washington  the 
unweathered  marls  are  often  expo.sed,  and  in  the  region  to  the  northwestward  the 
formation  is  bare  for  many  square  miles.  Fossil  .shells  frequently  occur  in  great  abiuid- 
ance  in  the  marls,  and  there  are  many  prolific  fossil  localities  within  a  few  miles  of  the 
city  of  Washington. 

The  thickness  of  the  formation  increases  eastward  from  two  to  five  feet  in  the 
bluff  just  east  of  Washington  to  over  100  feet  in  the  Marlborough  region. 

The  Several  Formation. — In  the  vicinity  of  Washington  this  formation  is  a  thin 
bed  of  black  sands,  lying  between  the  Potomac  and  the  Pamunkey  formations  east  of 
the  Potomac  and  the  Anacostia  rivers.  It  is  the  attenuated  southern  extension  of  the 
great  Cretaceous  green-sand  formation  of  New  Jersey  and  Delaware  ;  but  in  this  region 
it  consists  mainly  of  fine  carbonaceous,  more  or  less  argillaceous,  sands  containing 
small  scales  of  mica,  but  very  little  glauconite.  It  usually  abounds  in  casts  and 
impressions  of  distinct  Cretaceous  fossils  ;  and  fossil  shells  occur  in  al)undance  at 
several  localities.  In  the  bluff  east  of  Washington  it  is  locally  cut  out  by  an  overlap 
of  the  Pamunkey  formation,  but  it  comes  in  again  toward  the  northeast  with  a  thick- 
ness of  20  or  30  feet,  and  is  occasionally  exposed  in  streams  and  road-cuts  throughout 
the  eastern  portion  of  the  Washington  atlas-sheet. 

The  Potomac  Fo7-mation. — The  Potomac  outcrops  occupy  a  wide  area  in  the 
vicinity  of  Washington,  especially  to  the  southwestward.  In  Wa.shington  and  the 
Potomac  estuary  the  formation  is  generally  hid  beneath  the  Columbia  formation,  and 
in  the  plateaus  toward  the  southwest  the  Lafayette  formation  covers  it  extensively. 
The  deposits  consist  mainly  of  clays,  and  sands  of  light  color,  commonly  most  irregu- 

61 


larly  intermixed.  The  basal  l)eds  exposed  along  the  western  margin  are  mainly  gray 
sandy  arkose,  with  pebbles  and  bowlders.  In  Virginia  the  sandy  arkose  and  arkosic 
sands  give  place  eastward  to  gray,  greenish,  brown  and  buff  sandy  fissile  clays. 
North  of  the  Potomac  they  grade  upward  into  a  great  series  of  fine  quartz  sands  and 
clays,  the  argillaceous  elements  increasing  in  proportion  eastward.  Along  the  Balti- 
more and  Potomac  railroad,  and  thence  eastward  to  the  Severn  formation,  the  clays  are 
extensively  developed,  and  the  sands  occur  as  locally  indurated  sheets  and  crusts,  or 
more  rarely  intermixed  with  the  clays.  The  formation  attains  a  thickness  of  over  300 
feet  east  of  Washington,  but  it  is  eroded  westward  finally  to  a  feather  edge. 

Post-ColuDibia  Deposits. — The  overwash  deposits  on  slopes  and  along  the  smaller 
streams  as  well  as  the  river  muds  and  marshes,  and  the  freshet  deposits  along  the  larger 
rivers  are  post-Columbia  in  age  ;  but  owing  to  their  relative  unimportance  they  are  not 
represented  on  the  present  edition  of  the  geologic  map.  As  the  rivers  are  submerged 
and  sinking,  and  the  present  area  of  submergence  was  preceded  b}^  erosion,  -alluvial 
deposits  are  mainly  under  water  in  the  Washington  region  and  consist  of  river  muds, 
and  the  freshets  are  small  in  volume. 

Artificial. — The  tidal  marshes  adjoining  the  southern  part  of  Washington  have 
been  built  up  above  tidal  level  with  materials  obtained  by  excavations  from  the  ad- 
joining channels.     This  area  is  represented  on  the  map  as  artificial. 

The  Geomorphology. 

During  recent  years  certain  geologists  have  come  to  recognize  that  within 
certain  limits  earth  history  may  be  read  from  the  land-forms  developed  by  degradation 
as  well  as  from  the  strata  formed  by  concurrent  deposition  ;  and  the  Coastal  Plain  and 
contiguous  provinces  of  eastern  United  States  are  so  conditioned  that  these  lines  of 
research  may  be  successfully  prosecuted  within  them. 

Although  the  parallel  mountain  ranges  are  the  most  conspicuous  features  of  the 
Appalachian  province,  the  broad  gently  undulating  intermontane  plains  are  only  less 
conspicuous  and  far  more  extensive  ;  and  only  less  conspicuous  than  the  intermontane 
plains  are  the  narrow  steep-sides  gorges  of  all  water-wa37S  incised  within  the  plain  and 
.sometimes  notching  mountains — indeed,  the  entire  province  is  really  an  undulating 
baselevel  plain  with  ranges  embossed  upon  it,  and  with  a  series  of  wide-branching 
drainage  system  sharply  inscribed  within  it. 

The  most  conspicuous  and  extensive  feature  of  the  Piedmont  zone  is  the  far- 
stretching  peneplain  or  undulating  baselevel  plain  comprising  the  greater  part  of  its 
area  ;  only  less  conspicuous  are  the  narrow  steep-sides  gorges  in  which  its  water-ways 
flow.  The  Piedmont  plain  thus  homologizes  the  Appalachian  province  with  respect 
to  classes  of  features  ;  but  the  embossed  mountains  are  lacking. 

Although  the  most  conspicuous  configuration  of  the  Coastal  plain  is  that  of  the 
present  surface  there  are  in  this  province  a  series  of  configurations  characterizing  a 

62 


number  of  ancient  surfaces,  each  of  which  is  a  great  stratigraphic  unconformity  ;  and 
the  researches  in  this  region  have  progressed  so  far  that  the  general  characters  of  each 
of  these  surfaces  have  been  ascertained.  The  present  surface  is  a  terraced  lowland, 
trenched  by  broad  yet  shallow  estuaries  and  partly  dissected  by  minor  water-ways  flow- 
ing in  narrow  steep-sides  channels,  produced  by  rapid  excavation  ;  but  portions  of  the 
lowlands  are  not  yet  invaded  by  the  minor  drainage.  In  general  the  surface  is  water- 
carved,  and  represents  sluggish  trenching  along  drainage  lines  The  next  older  surface 
(the  contact  surface  between  the  Columbia  and  the  Lafayette)  is  the  most  strongly 
accented  of  the  province  ;  it  represents  a  peneplain  strongly  and  deeply  trenched  but 
nowhere  planed  to  baselevel,  save  possibly  in  the  deeper  gorges  far  below  the  reach  of 
observation.  The  next  lower  surface  ( the  Lafayette-Chesapeake  surface)  is  smoother 
than  that  of  the  present,  .and  the  configuration  as  well  as  the  relations  of  structure  to 
that  configuration  indicate  widespread  baselevel  planation  with  little  trenching  along 
the  water-ways.  The  next  surface  ( the  Chesapeake-Pamunkey  )  is  similar,  but  even 
smoother.  The  Pamunkey-Severn  surface  in  like  manner  is  smooth  and  .so  related  to 
the  structure  as  to  tell  of  extensive  planation  wathout  localized  vertical  cutting.  The 
Severn-Potomac  surface  on  the  other  hand  is  decidedly  rugose,  and  its  relations  to 
structure  are  such  as  to  indicate  that  it  represents  a  peneplain  extensively  degraded, 
yet  chiefly  along  the  drainage  lines.  The  baselevel  surface  upon  which  the  entire 
series  of  Coastal  plain  deposits  rests — the  sub-Potomac  floor — is  much  like  the  present 
Piedmont  surface,  i.  e.,  a  rather  strongly  undulating  peneplain,  trenched  by  deep-cut 
gorges. 

In  addition  to  these  general  features  of  the  three  provinces  there  are  a  multitude 
of  minor  features,  of  which  a  portion  have  been  studied  and  interpreted.  Thus  Cham- 
berlin  and  Gilbert  as  well  as  White  in  the  western  part  of  the  mountain  province,  and 
McGee  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  same  province,  as  well  as  in  the  plateau,  have  ascer- 
tained that  the  early  Pleistocene  deposits  rest  on  the  great  Appalachian-Piedmont 
peneplain  ;  Willis  has  traced  the  same  or  a  remarkably  similar  peneplain  into  the 
southern  Appalachians  in  North  Carolina  ;  Davis*  has  recently  recognized  and  admira- 
bly described  an  ill-defined  pre-Triassic  and  well  defined  pre-Cretaceous  peneplain  in 
New  England  and  the  northern  Appalachians  ;  Emerson  has  incidentally  developed 
certain  features  of  a  pre-Triassic  land  surface  in  New  England  ;  and  by  the.se  and  other 
researches  several  important  features  in  thegeomorphic  history  of  eastern  I'uited  States 
have  been  elucidated.  It  is  known  that  the  drainage  and  the  topographic  forms  result- 
ing therefrom  in  the  Appalachian  zone  were  developed  by  orogenic  movement  and  are 
therefore  tectonic,  they  are  certainly  con.sequent  in  the  western  part  of  the  province, 
and  probably  antecedent  in  the  eastern  part  ;  it  is  known  that  much  of  the  drainage 


*Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  Vol.  II,  1891. 

63 


I 


and  configuration  of  the  Piedmont  plateau  is  of  the  subsequent  type,  depending  upon 
planation  and  measurably  reflecting  rock  composition,  and  also  that  another  part  is 
superimposed  ;  and  it  is  known  that  while  the  principal  drainage  lines  of  the  Coastal 
Plain  are  affected  by  relatively  recent  deformation  the  greater  number  of  the  streams 
and  of  their  land-formed  progeny  belong  to  a  series  of  autogenetic  systems,  repeatedly 
yet  concordantly  superimposed. 

The  episodes  thus  recognized  blend  as  a  consistent  and  essentially  complete 
series  of  continent  movements  indelibly  recorded  in  the  land  forms  of  the  mountains, 
the  plateau,  and  the  lowland.  The  series  begins  with  the  faintly  recorded  incomplete 
baselevel  of  the  pre-Triassic  time  ;  this  shadowy  record  is  followed  by  the  more  defin- 
ite one  (at  least  in  the  latitude  of  Washington)  of  a  long  baselevel  period,  followed  by 
a  brief  high  level  period  during  which  the  land  first  tilted  seaward  and  then  sank  until 
the  Potomac  deposits  were  laid  down  ;  next  follows  the  extensive  record  of  that  long 
baselevel  period  which  Davis  styles  "  pre-Cretaceous, "  though  it  maybe  questioned 
whether  this  record  does  not  merge  with  that  of  the  pre-Potomac  episode  on  the  one 
hand  and  that  of  the  long  post-Cretaceous  baselevel  period  on  the  other  ;  then  follow 
the  series  of  alternating  episodes  of  sluggish  deposition  and  indolent  degradation 
recorded  in  the  Severn-Pamunkey  and  Chesapeake  formations,  with  their  intervening 
unconformities — a  series  of  episodes  which  maj'  not  be  discriminated  in  the 
faintl}^  inscribed  record  of  the  ancient  Piedmont  and  Appalachian  baselevel  ; 
afterward  follows  the  well  defined  episode  of  high  level  recorded  in  the  Piedmont- 
Appalachian  gorges  and  in  the  broad  and  deep  trenches  through  which  half 
the  volume  of  the  Lafayette  formation  was  carried  into  the  sea  ;  and  then  follows  the 
inconspicuous  but  easily  legible  record  of  the  Columbia  submergence  and  the  post- 
Columbia  emergence — the  former  certified  by  the  semi-filling  of  the  ancient  cafions,  the 
latter  by  the  shallow  submarine  channels  and  the  pygmy  "  fall-line  "  gorges  ;  finally,  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  Coastal  plain  comes  the  record  of  submergence  and  subsequent 
lifting  during  the  later  ice  invasion.  This  long  series  of  generally  consi-stent  land 
movements  is  complicated  in  the  middle  Atlantic  slope  by  the  displacement,  probably 
beginning  in  the  Lafayette  period  and  certainly  continuing  to-day  ;  but  properly  inter- 
preted this  complication  only  affords  a  check  upon  the  accuracy  of  the  general  reading. 


The  R.\LPII  D.  REED  LIBRARY 


l)!iP.\UTMENT  OF  GF.DLOGY 

UNIVERSITY  of  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIF. 


64 


THE  LIBRARY 
tJNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


Tr  r\.c\      •  -m-T 


UCLA-Geology/Geophyslcs  Library 

F  199  I61g 


llillllillillllhl 

L  006  564  973  3 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    001  130  449    0 


